The European Commission proposed to exclude certain agricultural products from accessing the European market and receiving EU funding even after Ukraine becomes a full member of the bloc.
The proposal comes as part of an enlargement strategy meant to prepare the Union to better absorb new countries, and is meant to address concerns from several member states that their agricultural sector could be undercut by the Ukrainian one.
“One area where we have to be very careful is agriculture. Why? Because the structure and the size of agriculture in Ukraine is really unique, therefore, we are proposing that we do special arrangements, which would limit the financial support, and market access for some of the Ukrainian agricultural products,” EU’s Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said.
Agricultural carveout
For the enlargement chief, Ukraine’s partial integration is possible, and the objective is to make Kyiv a full member state, but the Commission is proposing targeted amendments to exclude Ukrainian wheat and grain from the EU’s agricultural framework.
“What we propose now is about protecting European farmers,” Kos noted, adding that the Commission will propose to include the measure in the EU’s common position on agricultural policy when negotiating the accession of Ukraine.
According to the Commission, the idea is to help Ukraine regain access to its traditional markets, in particular in Northern Africa and the Middle East, which Russia’s war of attrition made it difficult to reach.
The EU executive argues that, if such regions were deprived of Ukrainian grain as it was diverted to the European market, it would substantially harm the food security of the importer countries and even trigger risks of mass famine.
Troubled accession
However, the measure is also meant to address concerns from EU countries like Poland that Ukraine’s agricultural exports might seriously challenge their national farmers and markets, Euronews understands.
Kyiv applied to become an EU member shortly after Russia’s war of aggression started in 2022, but its accession bid has stalled until earlier this year due to opposition from Viktor Orbán’s Hungary.
However, as Orbán was ousted from power earlier this year, the accession process started moving, with two more accession clusters expected to be opened as early as next week.
Thus, the Commission’s move seems meant to prevent these concerns from affecting Ukraine’s sensitive enlargement process from being delayed further.
“It doesn’t mean that Ukraine will not become a member of the EU,” Kos continued. “We can afford that Ukraine will become a member of the EU, but we will set special conditions for agriculture.”
Tentative timeline
At the same time, Brussels is conscious that Ukraine, because of its size and ongoing war effort, poses a specific challenge to the EU’s enlargement process. Nevertheless, Kyiv has been included in a group of four “frontrunners” that will receive a dedicated roadmap later this month.
The roadmap will include an indicative timeline for joining the Union and a breakdown of the most important steps to get there. Still, for the other three frontrunners, Montenegro, Albania and Moldova, the timeline is relatively intuitive.
Montenegro’s declared ambition is to become the 28th member by 2028. Albania is poised to see its ambition to conclude the accession homework by the end of next year formally endorsed. Moldova is similarly targeting the first half of 2028.
For Ukraine, there is no obvious timeline, since the accession path might inevitably become linked with the eventual peace process with Russia.
“The country is at war. We will have to see. There are so many ifs [for Ukraine’s roadmap],” Kos said.