00:00To target Russian fertilizers without hurting European agriculture, this is the difficult
00:12balance sought by the European Union.
00:15At the end of last week, Member States adopted a European Commission proposal to impose customs
00:21duties on imports of certain agricultural products from Russia and Belarus, in order
00:26to reduce the Union's dependence.
00:29But the measure is worrying the agricultural sector.
00:32In the short term, the Commission has not proposed alternative measures to replace
00:37imports from Russia and Belarus.
00:41So, already today, we import from other third countries, but an increased demand will generate
00:48more pressure in terms of logistics, so costs increases.
00:52These costs increases will generate agricultural inflation, which will impact on the decrease
00:57of agricultural producers' income and competitiveness on the domestic market and export.
01:05Russian fertilizers account for 25% of EU imports.
01:10The additional customs duty per ton of fertilizer could gradually rise from around 40 euros
01:15to around 370 over three years.
01:19For farmers, the Union's food security is at stake.
01:23The Commission assures that this reduction in imports will be offset by a strengthening
01:27of the European fertilizer industry, a view shared by the MEP in charge of the text, who
01:34believes that we need to think strategically here.
01:40My personal view is that this proposal could come or should come three years earlier already.
01:47Now almost all countries have got rid of Russian gas.
01:53But Russia has done such a thing to produce from cheap Russian gas, these fertilizers,
01:58and to sell them in European market for a very low prices.
02:03And it means if we buy these Russian fertilizers, we continue to fuel Russian war machine.
02:10Is it acceptable?
02:11No, it's not.
02:14The European Parliament will formally take up the issue early next month.
02:19Once its position has been adopted, MEPs will have to reach an agreement with the Member
02:23States on a common position.
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