During a 5 May debate on the CBAM carbon border levy, MEPs in the environment committee, ENVI, called for a rethink on how the EU’s flagship tax on carbon-intensive imports applies to war-hit Ukraine.
The move comes after the CEO of leading Ukrainian steelmaker Metinvest told Politico that the Commission was in talks with Kyiv about a possible exemption. Last year, Ukraine was the leading exporter, by volume, of CBAM-covered goods to the EU, particularly iron and steel.
Germany’s Peter Liese, ENVI coordinator for the centre-right EPP, seemed to back a potential exemption, while Dutch MEP Mohammed Chahim of the centre-left S&D and rapporteur for a CBAM proposal under negotiation, said “we have to reassess” the file’s force majeure clause.
EPP and liberal Renew MEPs agreed. A Commission official present at the hearing did not comment on the matter. Metinvest told Contexte that it wasn’t directly involved in talks with the Commission.
The EU executive said it is “aware of the concerns expressed by the Ukrainian industry over exports of steel and aluminium”, adding it was working with Kyiv to “facilitate” CBAM’s implementation.
A Commission report in December found no grounds to trigger a force majeure exemption for Ukraine.
