European Parliament’s Trade Committee supported the extension of duty-free trade with Ukraine

The European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) has supported the European Commission’s proposal to extend duty-free trade for Ukraine for another year without changes.

This was announced by Taras Kachka, Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine, on Facebook.

He reminded that earlier the same decision was approved by the ambassadors of the EU member states within the framework of COREPER.

“This procedural vote launches the political approval of this decision, which should take place without discussion,” Taras Kachka said.

He noted that a week ago, more than 100 amendments to the European Commission’s proposal were submitted in the agriculture and trade committees. Almost all of them proposed to narrow access to the EU market for Ukrainian products. The reason is the demands of farmers and the upcoming elections to the European Parliament.

“Through active work with member states, especially Poland, with European institutions and MEPs, we managed to reduce the number of amendments that were voted on to two. And they did not get enough votes. This alone means that normal European politics is taking over from the election race for media-friendly solutions,” the trade representative explained.

At the same time, Taras Kachka noted that a meeting of the Ukrainian-Polish intergovernmental commission will be held on March 11.

Tags: Ukraine, EU