Kyiv closer to single market, new EU-Ukraine trade agreement enters into force

Brussels – The new version of the trade framework that has linked the European Union to Ukraine for more than a decade enters into force today (28 October). The revision of the DCFTA—the deep and comprehensive free trade agreement—moves Kyiv closer to joining the single market, lowering quotas and tariffs on several goods while requiring the gradual alignment of agricultural production standards with those of the EU. To reassure Ukraine’s neighbouring Member States, in particular, the European Commission has put in place safeguard mechanisms to protect European agricultural markets and supply chains. 

The original version of the DCFTA was stipulated in 2014 as one of the pillars of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and entered into force in 2016. After the Russian invasion began in February 2022, it was replaced by an interim framework known as ATM, the “Autonomous Trade Measures“. The AMTs effectively suspended pre-existing tariffs and barriers on Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU, temporarily opening the single market to Kyiv for grains, corn, eggs, poultry, sugar, dairy products, and more. 

The exceptional measures were renewed for three years, until June 2025. Now, the new text provides a long-term perspective, the result of intensive negotiations with Kyiv and perhaps even more so with European capitals. As of today, the EU and Ukraine “will benefit from a strengthened, stable, fair, and permanent trade framework,” reads a press release from the European Commission. The agreement is structured around three pillars: increased trade flows, alignment of production standards, and a “robust” safeguard clause. The aim of Brussels, in the face of member countries’ fears, was to strike a balance between further trade liberalisation, the necessary support for Ukraine, and the protection of certain agricultural sectors in the Union.

For the most sensitive products —such as sugar, poultry, eggs, wheat, maize, and honey —the increases will remain “modest” compared to the original agreement. However, for other types of products (e.g., dairy products, such as whole milk powder and fermented milk, or mushrooms and grape juice), the liberalisation will be complete. The substantial increase in Ukrainian goods with easier access to the single market is conditional on Ukraine’s gradual alignment with EU production standards, including animal welfare, the use of pesticides, and veterinary medicines. Under the terms of the agreement, the EU candidate country will have to report annually on progress in this regard. 

Finally, in addition to this conditionality, the DCFTA provides for safeguard mechanisms to protect European markets, to be activated in the event of severe disruptions at the EU or national level. The Commission will formally propose activating these safeguards at the request of the chancelleries.

Overall, Brussels assures, “the concessions of additional preferential access to the Ukrainian market have been carefully calibrated.” The European Commission is confident that it has put in place the necessary safeguards, in particular for farmers in Kyiv’s neighbouring countries, “who have been most affected by the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the subsequent diversion of Ukrainian exports to the EU market.” 

The 27 member states gave the green light to the terms of the new agreement on 13 October, acting by qualified majority. Leading the opposition was Viktor Orban’s Hungary, along with Poland and Slovakia, the three countries that introduced national bans on the import of certain agricultural products from Ukraine last spring (Kyiv has filed a case with the World Trade Organisation over those restrictions). Now, Budapest has confirmed it will maintain the ban, despite the DCFTA entering into force. The Minister of Agriculture,
István Nagy, reiterated that “there can be no question of Brussels supporting Ukraine at the expense of European and Hungarian farmers.” 

A European Commission spokesman said that Brussels expects all member states to implement the new rules, avoiding commenting on the Orban government’s stance. If Budapest were to continue down this path, it would set a dangerous precedent—just as the European Commission is lobbying capitals (particularly Paris) to approve another, much more ambitious free trade agreement with the Mercosur countries.