EU ambassadors will not approve agreement on liberalising trade with Ukraine today
The ambassadors of the 27 EU countries will not renew or extend the agreement on liberalised trade with Ukraine, according to RMF24, citing sources in Brussels.
Source: RMF24, quoted by European Pravda
Details: According to reports, EU ambassadors were supposed to approve the agreement with Ukraine on Monday, 25 March.
The Belgian presidency allegedly postponed the approval of the updated agreement until Wednesday, citing the fact that many countries have yet to decide how they will vote. As a result, the chairmanship decided to give them some extra time to finalise their position.
The Belgian presidency does not want any additional changes to the current version of the text because doing so would necessitate additional negotiations with the European Parliament, which would jeopardise the process's completion on time.
Meetings of the European Parliament's committees are no longer held due to the impending European elections, and the last two plenary sessions will take place in April. The updated agreement must be approved by 5 June, when the current one expires.
At the same time, French diplomats allegedly claim that the postponement means "negotiations are still ongoing" and that changes to the text are possible. France, like Poland, wants a longer "reference period," during which limits on the volume of certain types of agricultural imports from Ukraine will be imposed. Paris would also like to include some other types of products on this list. Poland and France allegedly began to receive support from more countries, including Italy, Austria, Croatia, and Slovenia, which are not even Ukraine's closest neighbours.
Germany and the Netherlands are alleged to be opposed, arguing that by doing so, Ukraine, which is already reliant on international assistance, loses the ability to fund its own budget.
Previously: On 13 March, the ambassadors were unable to approve the updated agreement because Poland and France considered the text of the agreement reached with the European Parliament insufficient.
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