Post by account_disabled on Feb 22, 2024 1:55:09 GMT -6
There is a persistent belief in the EU that the bloc does its best work when countries try to join or trade with it, not necessarily after they have done so. According to the theory, during the long accession process, candidate governments reduce their public debt. , they expose the dusty corners of their economies to the cleansing blast of single market competition and import the labor and environmental standards and rule of law for which Europe is famous. More distant countries that are not eligible for membership can get a dose of market access and European values by signing a preferential trade agreement. This week's events suggest that confidence is a bit overblown. Poland, Hungary and Slovakia have blatantly violated EU and global trade rules by declaring they will block grain imports from Ukraine, the most politically important EU accession candidate since the first wave of former countries joined.
Soviet bloc (including those three) in 2004. Nations aren't exactly displaying the rule of law training module they passed for membership. Ukraine, unwilling to sit down and shut up for the sake of Pakistan Phone Number European solidarity, quickly threatened direct retaliation and a case against the three countries at the World Trade Organization. Given the strategic imperative to embrace Kiev closely and the fuss of complacency that EU politicians made last year when they opened their markets to imports from Ukraine following the Russian invasion, this is a really bad image. It is worth emphasizing that the deliberate violations of the law could in part be theater for the benefit of concerned farmers, especially since Poland and Slovakia will hold elections within a month.
If so, the conflict could still be defused without an irregular trade war or even WTO litigation. The governments' problems are not imaginary, given the potential impact of competition from Ukraine's world-class grain producers. But there was already an attempt to resolve the problem and an agreement was reached that failed. Four Eastern European EU member states (the three current bad actors plus Bulgaria) blocked imports of Ukrainian grains earlier this year. In May, the EU negotiated a complicated and convenient temporary agreement involving country-specific import restrictions (extending to Romania) that themselves violated the principle of single market unity. These were lifted last week in exchange for Ukraine agreeing to voluntary export restrictions, but Warsaw, Budapest and Bratislava have all reneged on the EU side of the deal.
Soviet bloc (including those three) in 2004. Nations aren't exactly displaying the rule of law training module they passed for membership. Ukraine, unwilling to sit down and shut up for the sake of Pakistan Phone Number European solidarity, quickly threatened direct retaliation and a case against the three countries at the World Trade Organization. Given the strategic imperative to embrace Kiev closely and the fuss of complacency that EU politicians made last year when they opened their markets to imports from Ukraine following the Russian invasion, this is a really bad image. It is worth emphasizing that the deliberate violations of the law could in part be theater for the benefit of concerned farmers, especially since Poland and Slovakia will hold elections within a month.
If so, the conflict could still be defused without an irregular trade war or even WTO litigation. The governments' problems are not imaginary, given the potential impact of competition from Ukraine's world-class grain producers. But there was already an attempt to resolve the problem and an agreement was reached that failed. Four Eastern European EU member states (the three current bad actors plus Bulgaria) blocked imports of Ukrainian grains earlier this year. In May, the EU negotiated a complicated and convenient temporary agreement involving country-specific import restrictions (extending to Romania) that themselves violated the principle of single market unity. These were lifted last week in exchange for Ukraine agreeing to voluntary export restrictions, but Warsaw, Budapest and Bratislava have all reneged on the EU side of the deal.