Negotiators from the European Parliament and the EU member states have agreed on stricter customs requirements for certain foodstuffs from Ukraine.
Specifically, this concerns "poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, groats, maize, and honey," the European Parliament announced on Monday evening. Goods affected by the rules may then only be imported into the EU duty-free up to a certain quantity. Once this quantity has been reached, customs duties will become due again.
The agreement still has to be officially approved by the European Parliament and the EU member states.
The regulations are to apply from June 6 for a period of one year. The extent to which the tariffs will affect the Ukrainian economy also depends on whether the country, which is under attack from Russia, can find other customers for its goods.
Negotiators from the member states and the European Parliament had actually already agreed on new guidelines around three weeks ago.
The first compromise reached between the parliament and EU member states stipulated that the quantities from which levies would be required would be based on the average of imports in 2022 and 2023. However, this did not go far enough for some.
For example, farmers' representatives argued that the entire year 2021 should also be included in the calculation. This would reduce the free quotas for Ukrainian products. The compromise that has now been reached provides for the second half of 2021 to be included in the calculation.
The background to the debate is that the EU exempted Ukrainian goods from customs duties shortly after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of its neighbouring country. This was intended to strengthen the country's economy.