Poland pointed to the EU's decision not to extend trade privileges for Ukraine

The European Union (EU) has made a final decision not to extend trade privileges for Ukraine, which expire in June. This was announced on April 10 by Polish Minister for EU Affairs Adam Szlapka.

"The decision has already been made. We are returning to the terms of a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with Ukraine," the minister said during the EU—Ukraine business forum in Brussels, which was broadcast on the Global Pulse YouTube channel.

He also stressed that the changes proposed by the members of the European Commission (EC) will then be considered by the Council of the European Union.

Yesterday, European Commissioner for Agriculture Christoph Hansen said that the EC does not plan to extend trade privileges that allow Ukraine to export agricultural products to the EU on favorable terms. At the same time, he noted that the EC is developing a new system of tariff quotas against the background of mass protests by farmers in European countries.

On April 4, members of the European Parliament (EP) from Poland, Piotr Muller and Waldemar Buda, addressed the European Commission with a request for a possible extension of the duty-free trade agreement with Ukraine, which expires on June 5, 2025. They recalled that since June 2022, the EU has adopted a decision on the temporary abolition of duties and quotas on Ukrainian agricultural products, designed to support the Ukrainian economy.