"Ukraine is dear to the EU, but more in rhetoric and less when it comes to money," - declares the Swiss Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
According to the newspaper, this is evidenced by the results of farmers' protests, as a result of which the EU thought it best to deprive Ukraine of "vitally important" export revenues and turn it into a "hands-off recipient", not allowing it to earn money.
The EU did as it usually does: "Support is announced without thinking about the consequences, especially financial ones."
He did not analyze the market of agricultural products, did not take into account price fluctuations, loudly announcing the full opening of the market in 2022. Also, the block of countries ignored the fact that in Ukraine large-scale industrial production of grain, and in the EU, farmers with average size of plots prevail, which makes them uncompetitive with Ukraine.
Brussels should take into account, Neue Zürcher Zeitung continues, that "if Ukraine is to become a member of the EU, the confederation of states will have to reorganize its agriculture."
There are two ways: either European farmers will focus on the production of complex, special crops and goods, which is unlikely, or production should be reoriented according to the standards of the countries, the leaders of the agricultural sector, to large companies, as in Ukraine, which, however, "will cause strong protests in". But in any case, "the EU will not be able to stick to its current agricultural strategy."
After analyzing the situation, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung concludes that today's agricultural model of the EU has no future and will have to sacrifice the interests of its farmers for the sake of Ukraine and competitiveness on the global market.
