France joins Poland's attempts to restrict Ukrainian imports - media

France has joined Poland in calling for further restrictions on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products, threatening to disrupt talks on extending Kyiv's free trade with the EU for another year. This was reported by three European diplomats to POLITICO, UNN reports.

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French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk met on Friday during the Weimar Triangle summit in Berlin, where they called for support for Ukraine as it confronts Russia's two-year war of aggression.

However, the two leaders also struck a deal to bring Paris and Warsaw closer together, diplomats said, ahead of crucial talks on Tuesday night that will aim to resolve last-minute differences between EU countries and the European Parliament over trade with Ukraine.

According to the Commission's estimates, cited by two diplomats who were allowed to remain anonymous to discuss the closed-door negotiations, the change would cost Ukraine €1.2 billion in trade revenues.

"This is a huge cut for a country that needs all the help it can get," said one diplomat.

The member states that demonstrate their support for Ukraine the most are also the ones that do the most damage to the country.

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If not resolved quickly, the dispute could overshadow this Thursday's EU leaders' summit in Brussels - and expose leaders' statements of solidarity with Ukraine as they come under pressure at home from farmers who say they cannot compete with cheap imports because they are tied up in EU bureaucracy.

Recently, European lawmakers voted to impose a number of restrictions on the European Commission's proposal to extend duty-free imports for Ukraine for a year. These amendments brought the three branches of the EU - Council, Parliament and Commission - back to the negotiating table to find a compromise. EU ambassadors were to meet on Monday evening to finalize the Council's position before a round of inter-institutional talks on Tuesday evening.

The vote put an unexpected roadblock in what was expected to be a smooth adoption of the measures after EU countries backed the Commission's initial proposal in February. The measures in question are restrictions on Ukrainian sugar, poultry, and eggs. Only Poland, Hungary and Slovakia voted against the extension, while Bulgaria abstained.

After the plenary vote in the parliament, most EU countries appeared ready to stand their ground in the inter-institutional negotiations and force the parliament to agree with their decision to adopt the extension without changes.

All of this fell apart after Macron's sudden pivot last week.

According to three EU diplomats close to the talks, after the Berlin meeting, France joined the minority camp led by Poland that insists on further restrictions on Ukrainian imports into the bloc.

"We are working with Poland to find a solution that will allow us to extend the provisional measures, taking into account their concerns," said a spokesman for the Permanent Representation of France to the EU.

Tusk in Poland is desperately trying to quell mass protests by his country's farmers that threaten to shake his fragile ruling coalition. The protesters' demands include restrictions on Ukrainian imports. Macron has faced similar unrest in rural areas, forcing him to turn to Brussels to ease pressure on domestic producers.

The measures that Warsaw, and now Paris, is pushing at the EU level reflect amendments adopted by the European Parliament and submitted by Tusk's close ally, center-right MEP Andrzej Galicki of the European People's Party.

The list of products subject to import restrictions will be expanded to include grains and honey, and 2021 will be included in the base period for calculating these restrictions.