Yesterday, the European Commission decided to extend the regulation on duty-free trade between the EU and Ukraine until June 5, 2025, which would only apply until June this year.
Only Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski has cast a dissenting vote on this regulation, presenting hard data showing that it destabilizes so-called agricultural markets. frontline countries, especially Poland. The extension of the regulation was urged by President Ursula von der Leyen and Vice-President of the European Commission and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, both of whom, like Donald Tusk, are from the European People’s Party. Although the above-mentioned extensions of the EC Regulation will still be voted on by the European Parliament and later by the Council of the European Union of Ministers of Agriculture, major changes to their content in this document will be impossible.
Pulling the wool over the eyes of farmers
It is true that some changes have been made, which are intended to protect the EU market better than before, but in fact these are the farmers in the eyes of the so-called frontline countries should not resume protests at the borders, which they have suspended in Poland, for example, in connection with the declaration of the new Minister of Agriculture that he will stop the excessive imports of agricultural products from Ukraine. Import restrictions have been introduced on poultry, sugar and eggs, among others, but the reference period for these products is the last two years, when Ukrainian exports to the Polish market were many times higher than before the Russian aggression against Ukraine (i.e. the impact on the Polish market). the destabilization of the market will be calculated on the basis of a much higher value of imports from Ukraine than before the war). Protective clauses for other agricultural products have also been introduced, but a particular Member State must demonstrate destabilization of the market with excessive imports of Ukrainian agricultural products, but the final decision on this will be made by the European Commission at its discretion.
Let us not forget that the EC pushed through this regulation immediately after the Russian aggression against Ukraine and later extended it until June 2024. It was intended to be one of the aid instruments for Ukraine, but after almost two years of operation shows that this is not really the case. help this country, but destabilizes the agricultural markets of frontline countries. Hence the unilateral embargo imposed by the government of Mateusz Morawiecki on the import of Ukrainian wheat, rapeseed and sunflower seeds into Poland, which is still in force, although the EC is pushing for its lifting and threatening to refer the case to the ECJ -EU and therefore with high financial sanctions. But it is not just grain imports from Ukraine that are destabilizing agricultural markets in Poland; this process also affects other products. For example, the import of sugar has increased more than twenty times in recent months, and the import of poultry and eggs has increased at least several times. Hence the protests of Polish farmers at the border with Ukraine, suspended until the end of February, because the new Minister of Agriculture promised them to introduce quantitative restrictions on imports from Ukraine, but this did not appear to achieve much. this issue.
Tusk – when it comes to the fight for Polish interests – can do nothing
It turns out that Donald Tusk, who portrays himself in Poland as a politician who can “do a lot” in Brussels when it comes to fighting for important Polish interests, can do nothing and has left the PSL Minister of Agriculture without support. And yet until recently he was president of the EPP and his party colleagues included the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the commissioner responsible for trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, and several other commissioners who were members of this party. Now, in a situation where duty-free trade with Ukraine, especially in agricultural products, is causing serious problems on the Polish market, and this has been proven by hard data from Eurostat, he has failed to limit these imports.
In the debate on the extension of the above-mentioned Regulation, Commissioner Wojciechowski drew attention to another important issue. The fact that Ukraine was allowed to import agricultural products into the EU had effectively led to Russia permanently pushing Ukrainian exports out of the markets of countries in Africa and the Middle East. Until the outbreak of war, Ukraine sold its agricultural products at attractive prices in these countries and exported them through the Black Sea, and after being blocked by Russia and introducing duty-free trade with the EU, most of its exports were sent to the markets of EU countries, mainly in Poland, due to the lowest costs for transporting these products to our country. Moreover, the very idea of tax-free trade in agricultural products from Ukraine does not really help Ukraine, because the largest agricultural concerns operating in Ukraine are owned by foreign capital, and moreover, of the ten largest, as many as 9 of them are registered in tax havens , which means they don’t pay taxes in this country.
The extension of duty-free trade between the EU and Ukraine, with only minor changes, which will lead to the majority of agricultural products from Ukraine reaching the Polish market, due to its proximity (lowest possible transport costs) and size (38 million consumers) , is a huge problem. failure of our country and personally of Donald Tusk. Both during the election campaign and after he became Prime Minister, he spoke many times about his strong position in Brussels, and famously said: “No one in Brussels will beat me”. Unfortunately, he was outplayed on his first serious attempt.
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Source: wPolityce