European Commission promises better trade conditions for Ukraine than norms by 2022

The Ukrainian government, together with the European Commission, is working to avoid a return to the trade regime that was in effect until 2022.

If a new EU decision is not adopted by June 5, the provisions of the Association Agreement will be reinstated by default – and this, according to experts, threatens a significant reduction in Ukrainian exports to the European Union.

The losses for the Ukrainian economy in this case are estimated at $1.5 billion, or almost 4% of total exports, according to a study by Veronika Movchan (Institute for Economic Research) and Riccardo Giucci (Berlin Economics).

However, the European Commission firmly supports the preservation and improvement of the trade regime.

In particular, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, during negotiations with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on April 9, assured that the new parameters of trade between Ukraine and the EU will be better than those in force until 2022.

As noted, this is planned to be achieved by revising the current free trade regime – in accordance with Article 29 of the Association Agreement.

The Ukrainian side emphasizes that the format of the future agreement is not fundamental. The main thing is to preserve and strengthen access of Ukrainian goods to the European market.

“It does not matter to us what kind of cover the future trade regime between Ukraine and the EU will be written under. Whether it will be autonomous preferences, as it has been so far, or a free trade regime expanded in accordance with Article 29 – for us, this is a fundamental result, not a “checkerboard pattern”, the government said.

Let us recall that on May 13, 2024, the EU Council, after a long and intense negotiation process, approved the extension of preferential trade with Ukraine for another year – until June 5, 2025.

Tags: Ukraine, EU, agricultural products