During today’s meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA), an exchange of views took place with the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on Economic Development. PiS MEP Witold Waszczykowski took part in the debate.
Witold Waszczykowski stated that the Law and Justice Party opposes the agreement on Autonomous Trade Measures (ATM) for Ukraine and its unrestricted free access to the single market. “This is an unfair agreement because it runs counter to the interests of member states, especially EU farmers,” he noted. The MEP pointed out that all member states must submit to and accept various restrictions, and that EU candidate countries should negotiate in order to gain access to the single market.
The chair of the delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee explained that the European Commission granted Ukraine this unrestricted market access, “because the Commission and leading EU countries do not want Ukraine to receive additional, direct funds to combat Russian aggression and rebuild its devastated economy.” As he stated, the Commission has found a solution that will help Ukraine, open the market to it, and allow it to earn its own money. He noted, however, that this solution is unfair and is leading to conflict with many countries in the European Union.
