Brussels: Europe and the Arabs

The European Council adopted a resolution on Thursday extending the suspension of EU safeguard measures on iron and steel, in support of Ukraine's economy amid Russia's war of aggression. The decision aims to mitigate the challenges facing Ukrainian producers and exporters as a result of the war. This came in a statement issued by the federal institutions in Brussels, which added, "However, the Commission will be able to adopt an implementing regulation to suspend this regulation for specific products for a period of up to 12 months. The suspension decision will be taken if imports of these products from Ukraine rise to a level that causes or threatens to cause serious harm to the Union industry producing similar or directly competitive products."
The decision will enter into force on June 6 and will last for three years.
It is worth noting that since 2018, the European Union has implemented safeguard measures on certain iron and steel imports to protect its producers from global excess production capacity.
As part of the Union's support for Ukraine in light of Russia's illegal war of aggression, Ukraine was exempted from these measures. The Council today adopted a regulation allowing the extension of this exemption.
Russia's full-scale and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has had a significant negative impact on Ukraine's ability to trade with the rest of the world. This has applied, for example, to the iron and steel industry, as a result of the occupation or destruction of iron production facilities. In this difficult context, the European Council affirmed in its conclusions of 27 October 2023 and 15 December 2023 (reaffirmed on 19 December 2024) that it will continue to provide strong political and economic support to Ukraine for as long as it takes.