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Ukraine cannot accept EU membership if it includes permanent restrictions on agricultural subsidies or exports, Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotsky said Wednesday, responding to a European Commission proposal for special limits on support and farm trade.
The proposal, unveiled a day earlier, would restrict financial support and exports of products such as wheat from Ukraine.
“Transitional periods are a normal part of EU enlargement ... Permanent restrictions on access to the single market are an entirely different matter,” Vysotsky said in a statement to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Ukraine cannot agree to such an approach.”
He added that Kyiv had not yet received an official proposal, which is expected to be discussed by EU leaders at a summit next week.
The proposed arrangement is aimed at easing concerns among current EU member states, some of which fear that new members could backslide on democracy or absorb too many key resources.
Ukraine is a major exporter of corn, wheat, colza, sunflower seeds and vegetable oil.
Kyiv submitted its application to join the EU days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Ukraine received official candidate status a few months later, and accession negotiations began in 2024.
The prospect of Ukraine joining the bloc has raised concerns in countries including France and Poland.
Some fear Ukraine could place pressure on the EU’s large agricultural subsidy program and increase supplies of cheaper farm products in the single market.
Vysotsky said Ukrainians “understand the sensitivity of certain segments for European farmers” and were open to “substantive discussions about adaptation periods, the scale of market access and safeguard mechanisms.”
However, he rejected permanent restrictions, saying they “would contradict the very logic of full membership in the European Union.”
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