You're reading: European Parliament backs European Commission decision to cut customs duties for Ukrainian goods to EU

Brussels - The European Parliament has supported the European Commission's decision to reduce customs duties for Ukrainian goods to the EU.

Most MEPs voted for a respective report prepared by deputy Pawel Zalewski
(the European People’s Party) in a penultimate plenary session of the European
Parliament, which was held in Brussels on Thursday.

The EP also declined to support amendments from the socialists and leftists,
which envisaged certain conditions for such actions by the EU, in particular,
related to human rights and workers’ rights. If these amendments had been
supported, the implementation of the EC decision would have been postponed for
an indefinite term, and the current parliament could have been unable to return
to this issue.

Thus, the decision to reduce customs duties must be approved by the EU
Council. It is expected to happen in April, with the decision coming into force
in May.