Poland used the European Parliament and the European Commission to achieve restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural exports

Poland

Ukraine

Regulation & Compliances

Published Mar 29, 2024

Tridge summary

Polish politicians have effectively pushed for tighter controls on Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU, leveraging various EU institutions and high-level discussions. Despite the European Commission's initial proposal, which seemed lenient towards Ukraine by only setting quantitative restrictions on specific products, resistance from Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary, alongside European farmers' protests, led to a pivotal change. A crucial amendment by MEP Andrzej Galicki, approved by the European Parliament, altered the method for setting import limits, aligning with Poland's preferences. This scenario underscores the significant impact of domestic political pressures and electoral considerations on shaping the EU's trade and agricultural policies.

Disclaimer: The above summary was generated by a state-of-the-art LLM model and is intended for informational purposes only. It is recommended that readers refer to the original article for more context.

Original content

Polish politicians were able to use both the European Parliament and the European Commission, as well as meetings at the highest level, to achieve greater restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural exports. This is reported by RMF FM. The issue of changes to the agreement on duty-free trade with Ukraine at the beginning of March seemed to be resolved in favor of Ukraine. The proposal of the European Commission dated January 31 included only quantitative restrictions on Ukrainian sugar, poultry meat and eggs. These provisions were introduced by Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski, which provoked opposition from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. The agreement document was first approved at the level of EU ambassadors. Poland, Slovakia and Hungary opposed such a decision - unsuccessfully. When farmers' protests broke out in Europe, Polish arguments became key for EU politicians. The situation changed in Poland's favor ...

Source: Agropolit