EU countries on Friday backed plans to impose tariffs on additional farm and some fertiliser imports from Russia and its ally Belarus, in a bid to up financial pressure on Moscow over the Ukraine war.
The 27-nation European Union has hit Russia with multiple rounds of sanctions in response to its invasion of its neighbour in 2022.
But the latest move has proved controversial, with farmers’ groups calling the levy on fertilisers a “gamble” the bloc could not afford.
The new tariffs are “expected to reduce Russian export revenues, thereby limiting Russia’s ability to finance its war of aggression”, the European Council said in a statement.
Proposed by the European Commission in January, the measures were approved by government representatives during a meeting in Brussels on Friday.
The council will now have to negotiate a final text with the European Parliament before it can come into force.
The proposal aims to target the 15 percent of Russian farm goods that were not affected by sweeping tariffs that came into force last July.
If enforced, it would subject all agricultural imports from Russia to EU levies.
Certain nitrogen-based fertilisers, accounting for more than 25 percent of the EU’s total imports — around 3.6 million tonnes, worth a total of 1.28 billion euros ($1.4 billion) — would also be impacted.
In addition to denting Russia’s war coffers, the latter measure aims to reduce dependencies on imports from Russia and Belarus and support EU producers, the council said.
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The tariff increases for fertilisers would take place gradually over three years, and mitigating measures to protect farmers in case the levies result in significant price hikes are included in the proposal, it added.
But the pan-European farmers’ group Copa-Cogeca said it was “dismayed and concerned” at the decision, which it said offered “neither short-term solutions nor a clear medium-to-long-term strategy for sourcing alternatives”.
“Fertilisers are critical for crop and pasture growth and represent a major cost for European farmers. This issue is of vital importance to food security and sovereignty. The EU cannot afford to gamble with its agricultural input supplies,” it said.
Under the package that took effect last July, the EU imposed tariffs on cereals, oilseeds and derived products from Russia and Belarus at a level aimed at effectively halting their import into the bloc.
Brussels has approached punitive action against Russia’s agricultural or fertiliser sector with great caution, fearing that any moves that could hurt the global cereal market as well as food security in Africa and Asia.
Under the commission’s proposal, tariffs would not affect Russian exports destined to third countries transiting through Europe.
“We will carefully monitor the implementation of these tariffs to ensure that the EU fertiliser industry and farmers are protected, while simultaneously reducing EU dependencies, preserving global food security, and further weakening Russia’s war economy,” said Krzysztof Paszyk, the development minister of Poland, which holds the council’s rotating presidency.
