European Commission has yet to submit proposals for "trade visa-free regime" with Ukraine to EU Council

The European Commission has yet to submit proposals to the EU Council regarding a new format for trade relations with Ukraine, following the end of the "trade visa-free regime" – the suspension of import duties and quotas on Ukrainian exports to the EU – on 5 June 2025.

Source: Polish Minister of Agriculture Czesław Siekierski in a statement on Monday 24 March before a meeting of the EU Council on Agriculture in Brussels, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Siekierski noted that the European Commission has the prerogative to prepare proposals for establishing preferential conditions for bilateral trade and the EU Council is currently awaiting the relevant document on future trade relations with Ukraine.

"The European Commission is responsible for trade matters within the competencies framework. We are awaiting the European Commission's position and proposal on the terms for continued trade and further liberalisation of trade relations between Ukraine and the European Union," said Siekierski in response to journalists' questions about Poland's stance on trade liberalisation with Ukraine, which is set to expire in just over two months.

He noted that this issue is not planned to be discussed at the current meeting of the EU Council on Agriculture.

Siekierski added that on 20 March, "I met with Ukraine's Minister of Agrarian Policy [Mykola Koval]. We were accompanied by representatives of associations, unions and agricultural organisations to ensure that the discussion was comprehensive and that we could reach an agreement."

"We are looking forward to the European Commission's proposal," he stressed.

Background: 

• On 13 May 2024, following lengthy and intense negotiations, the EU Council approved the extension of preferential trade with Ukraine for another year until 5 June 2025.
• Regarding the future format of Ukraine's trade relations with the EU, tentative agreements were made to integrate the duty-free trade conditions into the Association Agreement with the EU.
• In February 2025, Yuliia Svyrydenko, Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister, stated at a joint meeting of the European Commission and the Ukrainian government that Kyiv's primary task for 2025 was to finalise consultations on trade liberalisation with the EU in line with Article 29 of the Association Agreement.
• In the same month, the agriculture ministers of Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia called for the reintroduction of pre-war quotas on agricultural imports from Ukraine.

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