These countries have recently banned Ukrainian grain imports in defiance of Brussels, and in protest at a glut that was depressing prices paid to their producers.ĮU farmers currently receive at least €200 in income support each year per hectare farmed. EU membership for Ukraine would mean permanently lower prices for Spanish shoppers, who bought 430,000 tonnes of sunflower oil from there in 2021, but also tougher competition for farmers in Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. A majority of Ukraine’s farmable land is made up of chernozem, a richly fertile black soil that gives farmers enormous advantages in grain production. More than half of the country’s land is arable, compared to a quarter in the EU. Economic issues can be just as contentious as questions of war and peace, as Ukraine is about to find out.Īgriculture could be the most sensitive subject in EU-Ukraine negotiations, and a potential flashpoint. The EU’s security and defence policy is too weak to match these security guarantees and its mutual defence clause, which offers aid and assistance to member states that are the victims of armed aggression, is untested.Įven if Ukraine manages to join Nato or find alternative security assurances, the challenges that would arise from admitting Europe’s poorest country and one of the world’s largest agricultural exporters will take time to work through. Eleven out of the 16 countries that have joined the EU since 1995 did so as Nato members – a status that helps to protect states such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from Russian aggression. Nato’s reluctance to make good on its promise of membership for Ukraine is one reason to expect protracted talks between Brussels and Kyiv. In fact, the war-torn country may well find itself trapped in negotiations that go nowhere. The European Commission’s recommendation this week that talks begin means that the European Council will almost certainly give the green light, but this doesn’t imply that Ukraine will be allowed to join any time soon. When the 27 EU heads of government convene in Brussels in December, they will face one of the most momentous decisions in the history of the European Union: whether to start membership negotiations with Ukraine.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |