
The European Commission (EC) approved the proposal to introduce duties on a range of agricultural products and fertilizers from
Russia and Belarus. Russian grain Photo: Vitalii Stock/Shutterstock
The European Commission (EC) approved the proposal to introduce duties on a range of agricultural products and fertilizers
from Russia and Belarus.
The said this in a statement on the EC website, published on Tuesday, 28 January. Agricultural products affected by new duties will account for the remaining 15 percent of total agro imports from Russia to the EU in 2023 year.
After the Council EU adopts the proposal all agricultural imports from Russia will be subject to EU tariffs,” the EU said in the statement.
The aim of the proposal, the Commission stressed, is to reduce dependence on imports from Russia and Belarus, which makes the European Union vulnerable to potential coercive actions from the Side of Russia. In addition, EU tariffs will support the growth of domestic production, which was affected in the energy crisis, the said in the statement.
The European duties are expected to “negatively impact the revenue from Russia’s exports,” thereby impacting the ability of Russia to wage aggressive war against Ukraine.
The EU duties will not affect Russian exports to third countries
The EU EU emphasized, that the new duties will not affect Russian exports to third countries through the European Union territory.
“Transit of all agricultural products and fertilizers from Russia”.and Belarus into third countries remains unchanged in compliance with the EU commitment to promote food security across the world, in particular for developing countries,” the statement emphasized.
The EC proposal must be approved by the European Parliament and the EU Council, after which it will become enforceable.
Deprive Russia of revenues for financing thewar
With the first proposal to impose duties on agricultural products from Russia the European Commission acted on 22 March 2024 year. These measures are designed to prevent the stabilization of the EU market in the case of increased supply of Russian grain products, stop illegal exports of illegally appropriated Russian Ukrainian grain, and also not allow Russia to use the revenues from exports to the EUtofinancethewaragainstUkraine.According to the European Commission, in2023Russia exportedtotheEUabout1.3billioneuros.
Russia exportedsuchproductstotheEUforabout1.3billioneuros.