2023-12-11 07:55:10
European Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries are meeting in Brussels to discuss the situation of the common market. Ukrainian agriculture is also discussed before the examination of Ukraine’s candidacy for membership in the European Union (EU) at the summit on December 14 and 15. If the accession process accelerated after the Russian invasion, agriculture is at the center of the debates.
Published on: 11/12/2023 – 06:55
3 mn
Ukraine’s membership in the European Union is essential “ on a human and geopolitical level », insists Christiane Lambert, president of Copa, the leading farmers’ union in Europe. But it also raises concerns. European farmers fear in particular a flood of inexpensive Ukrainian products on the common market: “ Ukraine is a very large agricultural country with very different production conditions. Its accession will have a very strong impact on the European economy and the common market. And if this process is poorly prepared, there will be a certain number of competitions which will be difficult. »
The European regulations to respect
What is the boss of the European union thinking? “ It will be necessary to work on several themes. One of them is to explain to Ukrainian farmers that their European colleagues are subject to many regulations, particularly environmental, social and even health regulations which are very demanding and which impact our production costs. This means that we have heavier production constraints to bear, and this affects our competitiveness. The same rules must be able to apply to products coming from Ukraine. »
Read also: Europe divided on the issue of Ukrainian cereals
It will undoubtedly be necessary to go through a transition period because “ everything cannot be done at once » and draw lessons from the previous enlargement. “ We must avoid what happened with the accession in 2004 of countries formerly under Soviet influence which joined very quickly, but without this upgrade. For example: everyone remembers that in the 1990s, when there was talk of bringing Poland, the price of dairy calves, calves born eight days old, collapsed in Europe. And this because the production conditions were different ».
Visa-free transit and its effects on the internal market
Today, agricultural products from Ukraine enter the European Union without taxes via « corridors of solidarity ». The agreement made with kyiv to help this country at war has already had economic consequences for the internal market. According to European agricultural union organizations, arrivals of chickens have increased by 180%, those of cereals, wheat and corn have also increased. This causes concern. Particularly in Poland, the other agricultural power within the EU. A dispute already links Warsaw and kyiv over Ukrainian cereals. Copa asks from today that precise volumes of goods are established which will transit through Europe to go to Africa and the Middle East, but which will not remain in Europe so as not to create an overload of production and therefore a collapse in prices ».
Also read: How Ukraine exports its cereals since the end of the agreement with Russia
Agricultural products, seeds, agricultural machinery, fertilizers… Without forgetting climatic hazards. “ It’s a lot of upheaval ». The European Commission will have to be methodical, insists the president who is also a farmer in Maine-et-Loire, in the west of France. But she already thinks that the process of adapting Ukraine to European standards could take six, seven, or even ten years.
#Ukraines #upcoming #accession #causing #concern #among #European #farmers