Takac: Ministry Concerned About EC Proposal to Raise Tariff Quotas from Ukraine

Bratislava, 7 July (TASR) - Agriculture Minister Richard Takac (Smer-SD) has expressed concerns over the European Commission's (EC) proposal to revise the trade agreement between the EU and Ukraine, which includes a significant increase in tariff quotas for the import of agro-commodities from Ukraine, ministry's spokesman Lukas Januv told TASR on Monday. „We're concerned about the proposal put forward by the European Commission. The proposed increase in quotas for imports of agri-commodities from Ukraine - especially for sensitive products such as honey, sugar and eggs - goes far beyond the original system. In some cases, there's an increase of up to 400-500 percent, which is unsustainable for our farmers and seriously threatens their competitiveness,“ said Takac. This proposal was published on 4 July and will be the main topic of the upcoming meeting of the agriculture ministers of Visegrad Four (V4) countries and their partners from Bulgaria and Romania, which will take place in Budapest. The EC has claimed that the aim of the proposed revision is to ensure long-term predictability and stability for EU-Ukraine trade relations. However, according to the Slovak minister, this is a unilateral favouring of Ukrainian exports et the expense of the domestic producers. lin