A series of regional talks between the Ukrainian government and business on EU accession negotiations and the changes facing agriculture have began in Vinnytsia.
The event, titled “Agricultural sector on the way to the EU: where we are and what’s ahead”, focused on preparations for adopting the EU acquis — the body of EU laws and standards — and how businesses can get ready for regulatory change and transitional periods, the European External Action Service (EEAS) informed on Wednesday.
Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Taras Kachka told participants Ukraine was focusing on harmonising legislation under its National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis (NPAA), strengthening institutions and putting EU rules and control systems into practice.
“The key issue is how institutions work in practice, how rules are applied and how a system of control and trust is formed,” he said.
Kachka pointed out that Ukraine completed screening in 2025 for three sections of the EU negotiation process — a review of how closely national laws align with EU rules — and had created a legislative framework for elements linked to the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), including strategic planning, a Paying Agency and digital tools.
He said the next step was to prepare a national CAP strategic plan with farmers and regions and a move towards seven-year planning.
Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture Taras Vysotsky said agriculture was a major employer and a significant contributor to GDP, and described Ukraine as “a reliable supplier of food for both Europe and the whole world”, saying it feeds about 400 million people each year.
EU support and regional priorities
The EU has provided €230 million for Ukraine’s farmers since Russia’s full-scale invasion, supporting production, restoring rural livelihoods and clearing mined farmland, Henrik Huitfeldt of the EU Delegation to Ukraine said.
Vinnytsia Regional Military Administration head Nataliia Zabolotna said 2025 figures placed the region among Ukraine’s top five for growing grain, sugar beet and sunflower, and that livestock farming was developing.
MP Mykola Kucher, a member of parliament’s agrarian and land policy committee, said Ukraine had adopted laws including on a paying agency and on veterinary medicine and animal welfare, adding that implementation and institutional capacity were the next steps.
Organisers said discussions also covered alignment with EU environmental, sanitary and phytosanitary requirements — rules designed to protect people, animals and plants from risks such as disease — as well as financing options including lending, guarantee programmes and private investment to modernise production and meet EU standards.
