Members of the European Parliament have called on the European Commission to reconsider its approach to applying the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to Ukraine in light of the full-scale war in which our country has been forced to survive for over four years.
Parliamentarians raised this issue during a meeting of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, according to “Ekonomichna Pravda.” The meeting discussed amendments to the CBAM and the creation of the EU Temporary Decarbonization Fund.
Several lawmakers noted that the existing force majeure mechanism effectively does not account for the war conditions in which Ukraine finds itself.
“I cannot imagine what situation would qualify as force majeure if Ukraine’s war conditions do not,” emphasized rapporteur and MEP Mohammed Shagim.
According to him, our country is currently unable to carry out decarbonization at the pace required by the EU. Separately, Mohammed Shagim emphasized the impossibility of ensuring independent verification of emissions data due to ongoing hostilities.
He proposed discussing the possibility of a special regime for Ukraine separately.
PPE Group representative Peter Liese also underscored the need for a specific approach to our country.
“I don’t want to open a Pandora’s box, but Ukraine is truly a special case,” he said at the meeting.
He also asked European Commission representatives why they are not considering the possibility of granting an exception for Ukraine.
Another official to express his disappointment at the lack of a clear position from the EU executive branch regarding CBAM relief for our country was Pascal Canfin, the rapporteur on the Temporary Decarbonization Fund.
However, European Commission representative Maria Elena Scoppio replied that the issue of applying force majeure or special CBAM regime for Ukraine is not currently included in the report and declined to comment further.
During the discussion, MEPs also addressed the risks to European producers posed by CBAM. In particular, Pascal Canfin believes that additional carbon costs for European companies could strengthen Russia's position on global markets, especially in the agricultural sector. According to the MEP, EU producers bear additional carbon costs, while their Russian competitors do not.
It should be recalled that at the end of April, it became known that the CBAM, which is already destroying Ukrainian metallurgy, will be used by the EU as a general source of replenishing its own budget, according to reports.
EcoPolitic previously reported on what the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture plans to do to postpone CBAM implementation for Ukraine.
