Laura Laplaud 9:12 a.m., February 2, 2024

Since the start of the farmers' movement, imports of Ukrainian products onto the French market, described as unfair competition, have been at the heart of the demands. Guest of La Grande interview Europe 1-CNews on Friday, Marc Fesneau, Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, judged that the “markets have been disorganized”.

Chicken, sugar, eggs, cereals... Ukrainian agricultural imports on the French market have been singled out by farmers since the start of the movement. In question, the suspension of customs duties since May 2022 in the countries of the European Union, to help Ukraine in its war against Russia.

At a press conference following a summit in Brussels, President Emmanuel Macron affirmed that imports of Ukrainian cereals will be affected by a "reinforced safeguard mechanism" at the European level, thus limiting the impact of imports of products Ukrainian agricultural sectors and allowing "intervention" in the event of destabilization of prices. 

“We cannot enter into a logic of market disorganization”

For the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Marc Fesneau, "cereals must leave Ukraine, not to go to us, but to go elsewhere." "Ukraine is an agricultural exporting power. It must be able to continue," said the minister, specifying that Vladimir Putin's maneuvers over the past two years have "deregulated the markets." 

“Blocking the Black Sea, blocking solidarity corridors, all this was done to deregulate the market. Firstly to deregulate the market, to cause disorganization on the internal market and to prevent Ukraine from go to foreign markets outside the European Union", he listed, specifying that this had "disorganized the markets too much". “I had several contacts with my Ukrainian counterpart, I told him that we could not enter into a logic of market disorganization otherwise the measures we are taking for Ukraine will turn against Ukraine,” said he said.

The European Union reached an agreement on Thursday to provide new financial aid to Ukraine of 50 billion euros until 2027.

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