Despite legitimate concerns and protests, the decision makers negotiating in trilogue last night on the renewal of the Ukrainian ATMs have proceeded by ignoring the key concerns of our producers. By keeping a reference period that will expose EU productions to significant imports and by rejecting the inclusion of wheat, they have denied the main modifications proposed by the Parliament that would have offered sufficient protection to our producers and manufacturers.
In the negotiations, the key amendments of the European Parliament vote in the Plenary have not been pushed forward, leading to a “weak compromise” on the most consensual elements. Our organisations understand the political sensitivity of this agreement, as well as the need to support Ukraine, but it is unfortunate that the small but important adjustments which would have delivered an effective solution for European producers were not considered.
While the inclusion of oats, groats and honey and the shortening of the activation period can be welcomed, without the change of the reference period in question from 2022/23 to 2021/22/23, the burden on the EU farming sector will persist and so will their discontent. The inclusion of maize is pure window-dressing, as given the lack of previous TRQs in the association agreement, even if the 2022/23 average would be reached, it would have no effect! Similarly, the arbitrary inclusion of oats and groats, which represent much smaller volumes than wheat, will not be effective.
The situation is so critical in Brussels that the Council, convening in COREPER this morning to discuss the outcome of the trilogue, has opted to delay the vote on the compromise reached, until next week. On its side, the European Parliament INTA Committee coordinators, with a very untransparent process towards its own members (to say the least) decided to proceed with a vote and approve the agreement. Such a lack of listening to producers in this moment may result in less acceptance in future negotiations on Ukrainian integration into the EU.
Finally, it is important to note that this agreement and these renewed ATMs will most likely be the basis for further re-negotiation of the association agreement with Ukraine, setting the already too high baseline for gaining the acceptance of EU producers and manufacturers. In this context, our organisations cannot support the agreement reached in the trilogue and call on the Member States and the Council to seriously reflect on the signal they would be sending to European farmers and manufacturers, including a new compromise to be discussed in trilogue.
On behalf of the following associations:
AVEC – Association of Poultry Processors and Poultry Trade in the EU countries
CEFS – European Association of Sugar Manufacturers
CEPM – European Confederation of Maize Production
CIBE – International Confederation of European Beet Growers
COPA-COGECA – The united voice of farmers and their cooperatives in the European Union
EUWEP – European Union of Wholesale with Eggs, Egg Products, Poultry and Game
Fonte: Copa Cogeca
