By KYIV. May 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine welcomes the decision of the Council of the European Union to extend for one year measures for the full liberalization of trade with Ukraine, which include the abolition of all duties, quotas and trade protective restrictions on Ukrainian exports, the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
“This decision is an important practical manifestation of the EU’s support for Ukraine, which continues to defend its sovereignty and freedom in confronting full-scale Russian aggression,” the statement said on Friday.
The Foreign Ministry expressed its conviction that “any exceptions and limitations do not correspond to either the spirit of the EU’s close partnership with Ukraine as a candidate country for EU membership, or the letter of the Association Agreement and the founding treaties of the EU.”
The statement also emphasizes that restrictive measures imposed on May 2 by the European Commission under pressure from individual EU member states on the export of Ukrainian wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds are unreasonable, and also harm Ukrainian producers and weaken the economy of Ukraine in the context of a full-scale war.
“We expect that these restrictions, which are valid until June 5 this year, will not be extended after this date and will be canceled in full. Otherwise, we will regard the continuation of trade restrictions as an example of double standards, which will only undermine the EU solidarity with Ukraine and will demonstrate the inability of the EU institutions to apply the norms of the EU’s founding treaties and the Association Agreement,” the statement notes.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on the member countries that are behind the attempt to continue the restrictions to refrain from the given step and choose a way to resolve contentious issues that would meet the principles of the single market, the norms of the Association Agreement and the WTO.
