Ukraine’s EU Accession: Transition Period Should Depend on Specific Objectives

This opinion was expressed by Pavlo Koval, Director General of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation (UAC), in a comment to Ukrainian Radio, according to the association’s press service.

According to him, neither Ukraine nor the European Union yet has an agreed model for such an enlargement.

«The EU is reviewing the principles of its agricultural, budgetary and security policies. We need to take into account both these changes and the positions of individual countries. The worst-case scenario for us would be to fulfil the necessary conditions before accession but gain access to markets and European funds only gradually, in stages, during transitional periods. What is particularly concerning is that, for some possible restrictions, we still do not see clearly defined timeframes,» the expert added.

Pavlo Koval believes that the EU’s proposals for a 10-year transition period are, to some extent, a response to such requests from the Ukrainian side. This approach is supported by a number of agricultural associations, but it is necessary to determine whether all farmers support it.

«When we ask for 10 years from the date of accession, we need to explain exactly what this period is needed for: meeting environmental requirements, technological modernisation, compliance with product safety or commercial quality requirements, or the economic restructuring of production. These are different tasks, and the timeframes for them may differ — they may be shorter or longer than 10 years,» Pavlo Koval believes.

He emphasises that the main priority is to have a strategy for using this time. A general request for a lengthy transition period without a specific plan gives the European side grounds to propose its own restrictions on Ukrainian products’ access to the market.