EU Ambassador on trade liberalization with Ukraine: Not ban, but quantitative restrictions
The EU Ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova, said this in an interview with Ukrinform.
She noted that Brussels proposes to continue to keep EU markets open to Ukraine, while there are reservations about automatic safeguards, which, however, do not apply to all agricultural products, but only to three items. This mechanism will be applied if individual EU member states prove that their producers are suffering damage.
"However, the level of application of safeguards is at the average import level for 2022-2023. That is, we are not talking about a ban. There are quantitative restrictions. But I believe that the most important thing in the proposal (which has yet to be approved) is to leave European markets mostly open for Ukrainian products," Mathernova said.
As reported by Ukrinform, on January 31, the European Commission proposed to extend the so-called autonomous trade measures for goods produced in Ukraine and Moldova for another year, which means the continuation of the trade liberalization regime between the EU and both countries.
The EU's autonomous trade measures for Ukraine were introduced on June 4, 2022 to support the Ukrainian economy. Together with the EU's "solidarity corridors," the ATMs allowed for a steady flow of goods from Ukraine in 2022-23 despite the war.
