Brussels – The final confirmation before the seal to be set at the table of the 27 EU ministers in time for early June: The plenary session gave the final green light today (April 23) by a vast majority (428 votes in favour, 131 against and 44 abstentions) to the understanding on the extension of the Autonomous Trade Measures (ATM) for Ukraine, which came after a tortuous negotiation process with the EU Council. Now, the way is increasingly clear for extending the stop to tariffs on food imports from Ukraine until June 5, 2025. “This vote will simultaneously strengthen Ukraine’s economic resilience and protect the interests of European farmers,” rapporteur Sandra Kalniete (EPP) was keen to emphasize at the end of the vote.
As soon as the final approval by the EU Council arrives, the renewed Regulation will apply starting June 6. The suspension of tariffs on Ukrainian exports to the Union will thus be extended, but with a requirement for the Commission to take action within 14 days (no longer 21) to activate automatic safeguards in the event of market disruptions. The existing “emergency brake” on “particularly sensitive” agricultural products (namely poultry, eggs, and sugar) is strengthened, taking into account “any negative impact on the market of one or more member states” and not just the EU market as a whole.
However, while extending the list of products that can trigger “emergency brakes” to four more (oats, corn, semolina, and honey), only the Commission’s commitment to strengthen the monitoring of imports of wheat and other grains (not the listing) remains as per the original understanding. More precisely, the EU executive is to provide a declaration for strengthened monitoring of the impacts of these products. For the activation of the “emergency brakes”, the reference period is now from July 1, 2021, to December 31, 2023, and this means that the European Commission will be obliged to reintroduce tariff quotas only if imports of poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, corn, semolina, and honey exceed the average volumes of the last two and a half years.
The complex understanding on the extension to the tariff stop for Ukraine
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The first provisional understanding reached between the two institutions on March 20 had found opposition from France, Poland, and Hungary on two points: the extension to the whole of 2021 of the reference period for triggering the “emergency brakes” in case of disruptions to the Union market (or just one of its members) and the inclusion of wheat in the list of products that are to be considered precisely for measures to protect European farmers. After allowing time for the 27 EU leaders to discuss the issue at the March 21-22 European Council, the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) scheduled for March 25 had been postponed due to the risk of a blocking minority (which would be supported by other countries such as Italy).
This led to the compromise solution of the Belgian rotating presidency, which maintained the exclusion of wheat from the list but opened to the partial extension of the reference period from July 1, 2021, until December 31, 2023. The solution found the consensus of the vast majority of member states, except Slovakia and Hungary (opposing). Having seen an understanding among member states, the road immediately seemed downhill since the starting negotiating position of MEPs was even more uncompromising in favour of protecting the European agri-food market (with the inclusion of wheat and other cereals in the list for “emergency brakes”). The proof was seen during the April 9 meeting between the negotiators of the two institutions, where a new agreement on the same lines drawn on March 27 by the EU governments was arrived at rather quickly. Then, very quickly, the green light came from the ambassadors’ meeting in COREPER, and the next day, the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) gave its green light.
Regarding EU imports from Ukraine, sources in Brussels report figures that may give some insight into the importance of the measure to support Kyiv economically. All in all, autonomous trade measures for Ukraine are worth €2.15 billion, and a reduction of about €240 million was planned with the initial Commission proposal. The reduction reached €330 million with the amended and approved text, setting the new value of trade measures at €1.82 billion: it would have dropped to 950 million if all the EU Parliament’s amendments had been adopted (-1.2 billion). Other sources in Brussels highlight how the partially extended reference period may impact the possibility of triggering European market safeguard mechanisms. For poultry in 2021, the EU imported 76 thousand tons from Ukraine and 173 thousand in 2023. For sugar, 18 thousand in 2021 and 496 thousand in 2023; for barley, 50 thousand in 2021 and 660 thousand in 2023; for wheat, 288 thousand in 2021 and 6.1 million in 2023; and for corn, 7.4 million in 2021 and 12.9 in 2023.
