Commission proposes to prolong road transport agreements with Ukraine and Moldova and introduces updates to the agreement with Ukraine
The proposals, sent to the Council, include updates to the agreement with Ukraine to improve its practical implementation and enforcement while maintaining its objectives and scope. The original agreements were signed in June 2022 and later extended until end of June 2024. They give bilateral transport rights to Ukrainian, Moldovan and EU hauliers for each other’s territories. With traditional transport routes in the region disrupted or closed due to Russian’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the unavailability of the Black Sea as traditional trade route for the two countries, the prolongation until at least the end of 2025 will help secure supply chains.
On the basis of exchanges with Member States, Ukraine and stakeholders, the Commission has taken into account lessons learned from the implementation of the current EU–Ukraine transport agreement. While the scope of the agreement will remain the same, the Commission proposes updates to facilitate its implementation and enforcement by the Member States.
Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean, said: ”The temporary transport agreements with Ukraine and Moldova have helped the two countries’ exports and imports moving after they lost essential transport routes due to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. At the same time, they may affect differently road transport operators across the Union. This is why, with today’s proposal on the agreement with Ukraine, we have also looked at how we can improve the agreement further, by making its implementation and enforcement easier and introducing a safeguard clause in case of negative impacts on regional markets in the EU”.
The proposals are now with the Council, which needs to give the Commission a mandate to negotiate with Ukraine and Moldova. Once the Council has given the Commission these mandates, the Commission will formally engage with our partner countries for their agreement.