(Reuters) – Ukraine and the European Commission extended a freight liberalisation deal, allowing Ukrainian cargo to enter the EU without a permit for another year. Ukraine’s Prime Minister announced this on Thursday.
Denys Shmyhal, on X, said that the agreement envisaged a possibility of an automatic renewal until the end 2025.
Shmyhal stated on the X social platform that “this is an important step in integrating #Ukraine with the EU area. It will increase Ukrainian exports and European Imports, strengthen the economy and stability.”
Ukraine and the European Union have signed a free-regime agreement on June 29th 2022. The agreement has been renewed every year since.
The agreement eliminates the requirement that Ukrainian carriers obtain relevant permits for transit and bilateral transport to the EU, and prevents the stopping of Ukrainian products via road checkpoints.
The regime was crucial in a situation in which Ukrainian Black Sea ports were blocked, which were key for imports and exports after the Russian invasion of February 2022.
The sharp increase in traffic between Ukraine and the EU has prompted protests by hauliers from neighbouring countries.
The protests, which began in November last year and continued intermittently over several months, caused a backlog of thousands of lorries that were carrying goods.
The protesters wanted to stop Ukrainian truckers from having free access to the EU because they said Ukrainian drivers were undercutting their price.