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Poland secures EU agreement to curb food imports from Ukraine

22.01.2024 10:00
Poland's new government has secured a concession from the European Union to limit the influx of farm products from Ukraine, to safeguard the Polish market, according to the "Financial Times."
Photo:
Photo:kie-ker, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The EU's top trade official Valdis Dombrovskis told the FT that the bloc would introduce "safeguards," allowing Brussels to block imports from Ukraine if they risked driving down prices in Poland and other neighbouring countries.

These assurances will be included in the extension of the EU's deal on tariff-free trade with Ukraine, which "should come this week," Dombrovskis said.

The deal will cover "the year to June 2025" and must be approved by the European parliament and a majority of EU countries, the FT reported.    

The EU granted Ukraine a tariff-free, quota free access to its markets in June 2022, following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Polish Radio's IAR news agency noted.

The war hampered Ukraine's ability to export food through the Black Sea to its traditional markets in Africa and Asia, the FT reported.

EU officials are also considering quotas on Ukrainian imports of such "sensitive products" as poultry meat, sugar and eggs, the IAR news agency reported. 

It comes after poultry and egg imports have doubled since Russia invaded Ukraine, according to the FT.

Monday is day 698 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.

Source: IAR, Financial Times