Russian fertilisers: a delicate balance for the EU between strategic autonomy and food security
The European Commission's proposal to impose additional customs duties on Russian fertiliser imports is worrying the EU agricultural sector, as Russia accounts for 25% of imports.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/03/18/russian-fertilisers-a-delicate-balance-for-the-eu-between-strategic-autonomy-and-food-secu
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The European Commission's proposal to impose additional customs duties on Russian fertiliser imports is worrying the EU agricultural sector, as Russia accounts for 25% of imports.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/03/18/russian-fertilisers-a-delicate-balance-for-the-eu-between-strategic-autonomy-and-food-secu
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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NewsTranscript
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.