Polish European Commissioner to demand restrictions on Ukrainian sugar and poultry meat
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In the upcoming decision on the extension of the EU free trade agreement with Ukraine, Polish European Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski will push for the introduction of specific restrictions for agricultural products imported from Ukraine.
Source: Wojciechowski in an interview with RMF FM, reports European Pravda
Details: The European Commission is already working on a draft solution for a new extension of the trade agreement with Ukraine without duties and quotas, which was introduced until 2025 as a temporary measure to support it in war conditions. The current decision will expire on 5 June.
The European Commissioner for Agriculture and representative of Poland said that he insists on including certain protectionist provisions and quantitative restrictions for Ukrainian agricultural products in this decision and sent a corresponding letter to the president of the European Commission.
Quote: "This is my big task for 2024, to make sure that in the new solution, if there will be one, sufficiently strong protective provisions are implemented so that we do not have any crisis related to excessive supply again," he told RMF FM.
Unofficially, journalists learned that Wojciechowski threatened not to support the future decision if these conditions were not met.
Wojciechowski detailed that he would insist on restrictions in particular for poultry meat and sugar from Ukraine, because imports of these products have recently grown very much.
"Imports are growing in such a way that it threatens the competitiveness of European business, including the Polish production of poultry and sugar. So I'm talking about the need to limit the quantitative import of these two types of products," said Wojciechowski.
According to him, this impact of Ukrainian imports is noticeable in almost all EU countries and sugar producers are already complaining to the European Commission.
The Polish Commissioner also believes that if you leave the European market completely open for Ukrainian imports, it "helps Russia to consolidate its achievements".
He argues that Russia has ousted Ukraine from markets in Asia, forcing it to reorient itself to the European market, and this creates destabilisation in Poland and other neighbouring countries. Wojciechowski believes that Moscow will "win twice" because Russia is entrenched in new markets, and disputes are growing in the EU over the Ukrainian agricultural import.
Instead, European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis wants to weaken the current safeguards, especially the possibility of a temporary import ban on specific products in the event of a sharp influx. The EU imposed such a ban this summer, and it was in effect until 15 September. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen appears to be of similar opinion.
On 4 January, Polish Agriculture Minister Czesław Siekierski stated that the Polish-Ukrainian border will not be open to Ukrainian goods and the embargo on exporting them to Poland is to continue indefinitely.
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