The European Commission continues to debate the extension of free trade with Ukraine until 2025. EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski demands that the new regulation retain protective provisions and introduce quantitative restrictions on imports of poultry and sugar from Ukraine. He said this in an interview with RMF FM, UNN reports.
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Wojciechowski even threatened to withdraw his support for the resolution if his demands were not met.
This is my big task for 2024, to ensure that the new regulation, if issued, contains strong enough safeguards to prevent a crisis of oversupply from happening again
He emphasized that recently there has been a significant increase in imports of poultry meat and sugar from Ukraine. These imports are growing to the point where they "threaten the competitiveness of the EU sector," particularly Polish poultry and sugar production, the commissioner warned.
Wojciechowski claims that almost all EU countries are experiencing this excess, and organizations of poultry and sugar producers are complaining to the EC.
Therefore, I declare the need to introduce quantitative restrictions on imports of these two sensitive products
Wojciechowski also said that the full opening of the EU market to imports from Ukraine is "an agreement to consolidate Russian gains.
He says that Russia is pushing Ukraine out of Asian markets, thereby pushing it closer to EU markets, which is destabilizing Poland and other countries bordering Ukraine.
Польський прем'єр Дональд Туск заявив про підготовку свого візиту до Києва28.12.23, 00:52
In doing so, the European Commissioner argues, Russia is gaining a double benefit: it is conquering new markets and sowing discontent in the EU. According to Wojciechowski, it is therefore necessary, on the one hand, to protect EU producers and, on the other hand, to facilitate (for example, by subsidizing Ukrainian transit) Ukrainian exports to non-EU countries.
The EU's efforts should be aimed at supporting Ukrainian exports to non-EU countries, preventing them from being pushed out of these markets, and helping them return to these markets as much as possible. If we focus only on opening up the European market, we will help Russia consolidate its military and economic gains in this war
At the same time, RMF FM notes that not everyone in the EC shares his opinion.