Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced in the Sejm that he has always opposed the extension of duty-free imports of goods from Ukraine, which will expire on June 5. This is reported by UNN referring to RMF 24.
Details
From June 5, 2025, duty-free import of goods from Ukraine (ATM mechanism) ends and Poland returns to the previous rules at the border. The decision was made after protests by farmers and the Tusk government's campaign.
Speaking to the deputies of the Polish Sejm, the head of the Polish government noted that the introduction by the European Union of the ATM mechanism in 2022 to support Ukraine during the war "widely opened the Polish border to Ukrainian products, especially agricultural ones, which are imported without any control."
According to the Polish Prime Minister, "trade visa-free" with Ukraine makes no sense, threatens the stability of the Polish market and it was necessary to take measures to block it.
I didn't say a single bad word then. But three or four months was enough to realize that this mechanism makes no sense, that it threatens the stability of the Polish market. And it was necessary to take measures to block it. First of all, it was about grain, but not only... Every day we saw thousands of wagons filled with grain heading to Poland, and you were saying in front of the cameras that everything was fine"
Donald Tusk stressed that he was the initiator of the suspension of the trade liberalization mechanism with Ukraine.
When we won the elections, one of our first decisions was to achieve an immediate correction of the ATM (Autonomous Trade Measures, - ed.) mechanism to introduce some quotas, but this was only the beginning. Later, together with my ministers, I launched a campaign to get the EU to abandon the ATM mechanism, which liberalized trade with Ukraine
Additionally
The Prime Minister assured the Sejm deputies that the government will take care of Polish economic interests, even if they "confront" with Ukrainian interests.
I have no problem with this, because no one will tell me that I am anti-Ukrainian when it comes to the Ukrainian-Russian war – Donald Tusk stressed.
Let us remind you
The EU introduced the Autonomous Trade Measures mechanism in June 2022, after Russia started the war in Ukraine. The ATM allows duty-free import of all Ukrainian goods into the countries of the European Union. In 2023, the term of this decision was extended for one year.
In January 2024, the European Commission proposed to extend the trade measures, while introducing maximum quotas for certain products in order to protect the EU market. These included eggs, poultry, sugar, oats, corn, cereals and honey.
Due to the liberalization of trade, Poland was swept by a wave of farmers' protests, who blocked border crossings with Ukraine to demonstrate their intolerance.