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The EU has struck an outline agreement with Ukraine to boost its food exports to the war-torn country in a deal that aims to appease the bloc’s powerful farm lobby.
The partners will update their prewar free trade agreement, with Ukraine lowering tariffs on imports. It also agreed to match the EU’s farm production standards in areas such as animal welfare and pesticides by 2028.
The move follows years of protests by farmers in neighbouring countries who claimed Ukrainian products were flooding their markets after Brussels moved to support Kyiv’s economy when Russia invaded its neighbour.
Countries including Hungary and Poland have continued to ban some Ukrainian imports despite pressure from Brussels, which will now expect those member states to lift them, according to EU officials.
Maroš Šefčovič, the EU trade commissioner, said the agreement was the “best possible outcome under difficult geopolitical conditions”.
While showing support to Ukraine by lowering some EU tariffs, the accord “is also a response to concerns voiced by our member states, farmers and food producers,” he said.
The EU abolished quotas and tariffs on Ukrainian imports in June 2022 to support its economy after Russia’s full-scale invasion and blockade of the Black Sea, the export route for much of Ukraine’s agricultural goods.
But after protests in countries including Poland, Bulgaria and France, it placed limits on some key products such as sugar, wheat and eggs.
On June 6 it reintroduced prewar tariff and quota levels as a temporary move ahead of talks on a final deal.
Sefcovic said quotas would increase but remain below historic trade volumes to “ensure EU market stability”.
There will also be a safeguard clause that will curtail imports that cause “serious difficulties” for a member state.
Farming bodies led by Copa-Cogeca, the agriculture lobby group, said it needed to see the final details of the proposed agreement, which must be approved by member states and Kyiv.
“While we look positively on some aspects presented today concerning the alignment of standards and safeguard mechanisms, including also the impact on member state level, we remain concerned about the outcome on the protection of sensitive sectors, and the potential exclusion of some products, such as barley or ethanol, from such mechanisms,” they said.
Ukraine wants to join the bloc and has already agreed to align with its food standards.
Mykhailo Bno-Airiian, special trade representative at the Federation of Employers of Ukraine, said he expected increases of around 20-30 per cent in quotas for its exports.
“We are not competing with EU producers but exporters to the EU, such as Brazil and Thailand. That should be factored in with a real liberalisation of trade.”
He also called for the full details. “Ukraine business needs predictability,” he said.
The Ukrainian Agribusiness Club said: “It is very likely that the new arrangement will still mean net losses for the Ukrainian agrifood producers, whose sales to Europe continue to form a major share of export revenues for the economy of a country at war. Any trade restrictions compared to previous years risk weakening the nation as a whole.”
Bilateral trade was worth €67bn in 2024, up from €26bn in 2016 when the two sides first signed a trade deal. Last year the EU had an €18bn annual trade surplus in trade with Kyiv.
