Explanatory meetings between the European Commission and Ukraine on agriculture have begun

The European Commission has started explanatory meetings with Ukrainian representatives on the official screening process under the negotiated Title 11 “Agriculture and Rural Development”. The Ukrainian delegation is headed by Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Markiyan Dmytrasevych.

In his opening remarks, the Deputy Minister thanked the EU for its unwavering support of Ukraine during Russia’s full-scale treacherous war against the Ukrainian people.

“Despite the constant fighting, intense shelling of Ukrainian cities, villages and energy infrastructure by Russia, it is very important for us to move towards our goal of joining the EU. We realize that this path will not be easy, and the negotiations in the agricultural sector will be even more so. We are very grateful to the European Commission for the opportunity to participate in this explanatory meeting, even a month earlier than planned. We look forward to further cooperation and mutual support on Ukraine’s accession to the EU,” Markiyan Dmytrasevych said.

Explanatory meetings on Agriculture and Rural Development will take place on April 25-26. On April 29-30 – on Food Safety, Veterinary and Phytosanitary Policy. At the end of May – on the section on Fish Farming.

After these meetings, Ukraine is obliged to present its progress in each of the chapters. Based on these presentations, the European Commission will screen the legislation and provide specific recommendations. That is, what Ukraine needs to do to open negotiations on a particular chapter.

The European Commission’s explanatory meetings on agriculture were originally scheduled for the end of May 2024. At the request of Mykola Solsky, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, they were postponed to April.

For reference: The European Commission’s explanatory meetings are part of the process of verifying the compliance of Ukraine’s legislation as a candidate country with EU law.

The inaugural meeting to launch the screening (assessment of compliance) of Ukrainian legislation with EU law took place on January 25, 2024.

Tags: Ukraine, EU, legislation