Ukraine will soon reach an agreement with Poland: Kachka talks about the situation

Ukraine's Trade Representative Taras Kachka said that negotiations with Poland will soon lead to measures to protect Polish farmers. This should ease tensions and stop protests on the Polish border.

"We are very close to developing measures that will be individual, temporary and useful for restoring trust between all stakeholders," Kachka told Euractiv. Speaking after the European Parliament's trade committee (INTA) voted to extend trade benefits for Ukraine until June 2025, Kachka said Kyiv is ready to move to a more flexible EU-Ukraine trade system.

He said that Ukraine is ready to "fight with the interests of its neighbors," recognizing the concerns of farmers in Poland, as well as Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. The European Commission's proposal for trade liberalization – the so-called autonomous trade measures (ATMs) – includes an "emergency brake" in case the influx of "sensitive" Ukrainian products (eggs, sugar, and poultry) exceeds average imports in 2022 and 2023.

In the interview, Kachka welcomed the approval of the proposal by the European Parliament's trade committee and went further, opening the door to a renegotiation of EU-Ukraine trade relations. "We are ready for the necessary rules or instruments in our bilateral trade," he said. When asked about the unilateral bans on Ukrainian imports still in place in Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, Kachka said that "in an emergency situation" certain disruptions in trade policy could be tolerated, but "not forever."

As reported by OBOZ.UA, amid farmers' protests and border blockades (primarily of the Ukrainian one), Poland has started informal talks with the head of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen. At the same time, the Poles have already set an ultimatum: if the EC does not agree to Polish demands, the country's authorities threaten to impose unilateral bans and not unblock the borders at the state level.

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