Permanent representatives of EU countries approve extension of temporary trade liberalisation for Ukraine
The committee of permanent representatives of European Union member states agreed at a meeting in Brussels on April 28 to extend duty-free imports from Ukraine for a year.
“Coreper just supported a renewal of Regulation on temporary trade liberalisation supplementing trade concessions under the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. This will support Ukraine’s economy following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” the Swedish presidency of the Council of the EU said on Twitter.
The current regulation expires on June 5.
Meeting on April 25, EU agriculture ministers failed to reach agreement on the issue of food imports from Ukraine.
Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia are demanding that the European Commission (EC) compensate for the damage caused by duty-free Ukrainian imports.
Bulgaria, along with Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, has imposed a temporary ban on the importation of some foodstuffs from Ukraine.
The EC has announced that it had prepared a package of 100 million euro for compensation. However, on April 28 Bulgarian National Radio reported from Brussels that it was understood that it is still not clear how exactly it will be distributed.
On April 27, the European Parliament’s committee on foreign trade also gave the green light to the extension of duty-free imports from Ukraine.
The committee’s decision is to be voted on at the plenary session of the European Parliament in May in Strasbourg.
It must then receive the official approval of the member states, be published in the Official Journal of the EU and thus enter into force.
(Photo: EC Audiovisual Service)
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