France sides with Poland in the “war” over Ukrainian agricultural products

France has joined Poland in calling for further restrictions on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products, threatening to derail talks on extending Kiev’s free trade access to the EU for another year, Politico reported on March 18, citing three European diplomats.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk met on March 15 at the “Weimar Triangle” summit in Berlin, where they made a call for support for Ukraine in the war between the Eastern European country and Russia.

In addition, according to Politico's source, Mr. Macron and Mr. Tusk also reached an agreement in which Paris and Warsaw stood on the same side of the "front line" in the "war" over Ukrainian agricultural products, ahead of important negotiations aimed at finding a way to heal the last-minute rift between EU countries and the European Parliament (EP) over trade with Ukraine.

Seeking compromise

The change would cost Ukraine €1.2 billion in lost trade revenue, according to a European Commission (EC) estimate cited by two diplomats seen by Politico.

One of the diplomats said it was a huge blow to Ukraine, which is struggling to get any help it can get. “The member states that are showing the most support for Ukraine are also the ones that are doing the most damage to the country,” he said.

The dispute, if not resolved quickly, risks overshadowing a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on March 21 – and making leaders’ statements of solidarity with Ukraine sound hollow as they cave in to pressure from their own farmers.

Farmers not only in Poland or France, but in many other parts of continental Europe, argue that they cannot compete with cheap imports because they are tied down by EU bureaucracy.

World - France sides with Poland in the — French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at a press conference in Berlin, March 15, 2024. Photo: France24

European lawmakers recently voted to impose some restrictions on the EC’s proposal to extend duty-free access to Ukraine for another year. The amendments brought the EU’s three arms – the Council, Parliament and Commission – back to the negotiating table late on March 19 to seek a compromise.

The EP’s “whistleblowing” came as a surprise as EU countries had backed the EC’s original proposal in February, which included restrictions on sugar, poultry and egg imports from Ukraine. At the time, only Poland, Hungary and Slovakia voted against the extension, while Bulgaria abstained.

After the plenary vote in the EP, most EU countries appeared ready to stand firm in their positions in the inter-institutional negotiations, and force the EP to implement the decision through an unamended extension.

But now everything has been stirred up again after French President Macron's "u-turn" last week.

Join the minority

After a meeting in Berlin on March 15, France joined a minority, led by Poland, that is pushing for further restrictions on imports from Ukraine into the bloc, according to three EU diplomats familiar with the talks.

Those proposed restrictions would add various cereals and honey to the list of products subject to import restrictions and extend the reference period for calculating those restrictions by one year, thus covering the 2021-2023 period.

“We are working with Poland to find a solution that allows us to extend the temporary measures while taking into account their concerns,” a spokesperson for the French Permanent Representative to the EU told Politico.

Polish Prime Minister Tusk is struggling to contain mass protests by Polish farmers that threaten to topple his fragile ruling coalition. The protesters' demands center on curbing imports from Ukraine.

As part of the wave of protests, Polish farmers have blocked border crossings with Ukraine from the start. Earlier this month, tens of thousands of farmers staged mass protests in the Polish capital Warsaw, demanding the closure of the border with Ukraine and the abolition of the EU’s “green” agreements.

Most recently, since March 17, Polish farmers have blocked two border crossings with Germany, pushing the wave of protests to the west of the country.

In France, President Macron has faced similar unrest from the countryside, prompting him to lobby Brussels to find ways to ease the pressure on domestic producers.

The measures that Warsaw – and now Paris – are pushing for at the EU level mirror amendments already passed by the EP and submitted by Mr Tusk’s close ally, the centre-right Polish MEP Andrzej Halicki of the European People’s Party.

The restrictions would expand the list of products subject to import limits to include cereals and honey, and bring 2021 into the reference period for calculating those limits.

While the first measure would have a limited economic impact on Ukraine, extending the reference period to 2021, the last year before the military clashes between Kiev and Moscow, would be more damaging. That is because Ukraine’s food exports to the EU were much lower before the conflict than they are now.

However, it remains to be seen whether the EU's moves will be enough to appease the anger of European farmers .

Minh Duc (According to Politico EU, DW)

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