Ministers of agriculture from Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania signed a joint declaration regarding the agricultural aspects of the amended trade agreement between the European Union and Ukraine.
This happened within the framework of the meeting held in Budapest, which was initiated in the context of the agreement in principle reached between the European Commission and Ukraine on the review of the bilateral Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area Agreement.
With the declaration, the ministers of agriculture from the EU member states bordering Ukraine called for a revision of protection mechanisms for European producers, special focus on the interests of the five countries, and the necessary safeguards for their agricultural sectors.
With the document, the ministers expressеd their concerns in relation to the agreement in principle reached by the EU with Ukraine, especially with regard to the increased quotas for products such as honey, eggs, sugar, as well as the liberalization of the market for certain dairy products. In this regard, the agriculture ministers called on the EC to introduce automatically applicable regional safeguard measures for these member states, based on individual quotas, as well as to introduce a minimum import price threshold for the relevant agricultural products, in order to prevent goods from being sold below the price of local products.
Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania insistеd that the safeguard provisions should apply to all agricultural products, including those for which EU tariffs have already been or are fully liberalized.
The five countries also invited the Commission to consider the possibility of setting up a special fund to compensate EU farmers for possible losses in the event of excessive imports from Ukraine in the future.
The declaration also expresses the common position on Ukrainian production destined for the EU, stating that the goods need to meet EU standards.
During the meeting, the ministers stressed that they continue to support the Ukrainian side and are not against its trade with the EU, but are against these processes leading to damage to competitiveness and bankruptcies of agricultural producers in the countries close to the border with Ukraine. They also underlined the need for sufficient time for review and in-depth analysis of the preliminary EU-Ukraine agreement to ensure the most effective solutions for the Member states.