Reference News Network July 2 report, according to the German TV One website June 30 report, the EU has completed the free trade agreement negotiations with the Ukrainian government. The EU stated that the agreement aims to gradually integrate Ukraine into the EU internal market, with agricultural products as the core content. Both sides have agreed on specific quotas, and related goods can be imported and exported duty-free or under special preferential conditions.
The European Commission said that the EU will benefit from reduced tariffs or complete tariff abolition. While Ukraine can still maintain at least the same export volume as previous years for most products. In addition, Ukraine has committed to gradually adopting EU standards in areas such as animal protection and pesticide use. Agricultural products such as wheat, corn, sugar, honey, poultry meat, and eggs exported by Ukraine to the EU will be subject to particularly strict regulations.
The EU had completely abolished tariffs on Ukrainian agricultural products in 2022 to support its war against Russia. However, farmers in the EU's eastern regions strongly opposed cheaper competition from Ukraine, considering it unfair competition. Therefore, the EU gradually revoked these measures.
Since last year, the EU has set duty-free import ceilings for products such as poultry meat, eggs, sugar, corn, honey, and oats. This agreement expired in early June, after which the previous import quota system before the Russia-Ukraine war was temporarily implemented, resulting in a significant reduction in profits for Ukrainian farmers.
Ukraine has a relatively large agricultural sector, accounting for more than 7% of its GDP in 2023. Now, this agreement still needs to be finally approved by both sides. The European Commission is informing member states and the European Parliament about the details of the agreement, and then will submit a formal resolution for voting by member states. (Translated by Jiao Yu)
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7522401753406177833/
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