FT: European Commission discusses limited access for Ukraine to EU agricultural market after accession
The European Commission is discussing a special regime for Ukrainian agriculture after Ukraine's possible accession to the EU. It could include limited access to the European agricultural market and part of subsidies within the Common Agricultural Policy.
This is evidenced by an internal European Commission document reviewed by the Financial Times. The proposals have not yet been approved and are being discussed as part of a broader reform of the EU enlargement procedure.
Brussels believes that the scale of Ukraine's agricultural sector and its high productivity require special integration conditions. This primarily concerns grain and oilseed crops, significant volumes of which cause concern among farmers and governments of several current EU members, including Poland, France, and Italy.
Under the proposed model, Ukraine after accession may not immediately receive full access to EU agricultural subsidies and the single market for certain agricultural products. At the same time, Brussels is ready to help Kyiv restore traditional export markets outside the EU, access to which has been significantly complicated by Russian aggression.
The Common Agricultural Policy remains one of the largest items in the EU budget. In the document cited by FT, the volume of relevant subsidies is estimated at approximately €55 billion per year. Full extension of the current support system to Ukraine's large agricultural sector could significantly change the distribution of these funds among countries.
The European Commission itself in public materials calls agriculture one of the most difficult areas of accession negotiations. The negotiations involve determining future conditions for receiving direct payments and funding for rural development, as well as the possibility of transitional measures taking into account the specifics of a particular country's agricultural sector.
The new approach to enlargement will concern not only agriculture. The European Commission also proposes to more strictly link new members' access to EU funds to the implementation of reforms in the rule of law and financial control. In case of serious violations, Brussels wants to be able to restrict funding more quickly and apply other sanction mechanisms.
Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro, and Albania are named in the document as countries that have made the most progress towards membership. For them, it is proposed to prepare individual roadmaps without a fixed accession date.
At the same time, negotiations with Ukraine on the agricultural chapter do not yet mean automatic agreement to the proposed restrictions. The final conditions for access to the market and subsidies must be determined in the process of membership negotiations.
Based on materials from: Financial Times, European Commission
