European Parliament’s Agricultural Committee approves new protection measures against imports of products from Ukraine

The European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture has decided that protection measures against imports of Ukrainian agricultural products should be strengthened, as demanded by farmers in several EU countries, Euroaktiv reports.

According to the Committee’s conclusion, “protection measures should cover all sectors, and the ’emergency’ measures intended to restore duties on eggs, poultry and sugar should be extended to cereals, oilseeds and honey.”

To assess the excess of the average level of imports, the Committee proposes to use the “pre-war” figures for 2021-2022, while the European Commission proposed to take into account the figures for 2022-2023.

The Committee also believes that funds from the EUR 50 billion allocated to Ukraine should be used to purchase and store imported Ukrainian agricultural products. This will help stabilize market prices in case of excessive imports.

The conclusions of the Agricultural Committee will be forwarded to the Trade Committee, which may take into account or reject the amendments.

The final vote of the European Parliament on the Ukrainian issue will take place on March 7.

Tags: EU, agricultural products, restrictions, Ukraine