EU and Ukrainian farmers at odds on renewal of trade benefits for Kyiv

EU farmers’ organisations welcomed a vote in the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee calling for more safeguards against food imports in the context of a recent Commission proposal for renewing trade liberalisation measures for Ukraine.

Ukrainian farmers, for their part, want to see the so-called Autonomous Trade Measures (ATMs), proposed by the European Commission on 31 January, renewed.

The ATMs prolong the current suspension of duties and quotas for imports from Kyiv until June 2025. The Trade Committee in the European Parliament will vote on them on 7 March.

Ahead of the vote, tensions are rising between farmers’ organisations in the EU and in Ukraine.

Despite the inclusion in the EU proposal of safeguard measures against excessive food imports, six primary EU farmers and food producers associations consider the measure to be a threat to the stability of the EU food commodities market.