Exclusive The European Parliament has begun discussing a CBAM deferral for Ukraine

So far, the European Commission has avoided giving clear answers about the prospects for easing the mechanism for Ukraine.

At a meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), MEPs publicly raised the issue of a special approach toward Ukraine under Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) for the first time. The discussion followed the rejection of a request to postpone CBAM implementation for Ukraine. This is noted in the transcript of the ENVI meeting held on May 5.

The rapporteur on CBAM, Mohammed Chahim(Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats), stated that the current provisions on force majeure need to be reviewed if the state of war in Ukraine is not considered as such.

“I find it difficult to understand how we view Ukraine. I must say that we need to reassess this force majeure provision that we have. I cannot imagine what country or what situation we could consider one in which force majeure would be activated,” he emphasized.

According to him, Ukraine is clearly unable to decarbonize at the necessary pace. Chahim proposed developing a separate resolution for Ukraine with shadow rapporteurs. Shadow rapporteurs are members of European Parliament committees appointed by each political group to monitor the progress of legislative proposals and represent their group’s position.

His position was supported by Peter Liese, a member of the European People’s Party, who addressed the European Commission directly, asking why it did not consider it necessary to grant Ukraine any derogation or special treatment. Liese called it “truly a special case,” making it clear that the European Commission’s silence was unacceptable.

At the same time, Maria Elena Scoppio, Director for Indirect Taxation and Tax Administration at the European Commission (DG TAXUD), effectively dodged the question: she stated that she would not comment on the issue of Ukraine, as it is not part of the current report or proposal. Thus, the European Commission did not express any position on a possible special regime, the interpretation of force majeure, or a separate approach to Ukraine within the framework of the CBAM.

The lack of a substantive response did not go unnoticed — Pascal Canfén, the rapporteur on the Temporary Decarbonization Fund, joined in the criticism, calling the situation “somewhat disappointing.” The question of Ukraine’s status under the CBAM remains open and, by all accounts, will return to the committee’s agenda.

The full-fledged Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) came into effect on January 1, 2026. Throughout 2025, the Ukrainian side and relevant associations repeatedly appealed to European partners to invoke Article 30(7) of the CBAM Regulation. This provision allows for the temporary exemption of a country from duties in the event of exceptional and unforeseeable destructive circumstances (war).

In December 2025, the European Commission published an updated proposal and an official assessment report, in which it found no grounds for activating the force majeure clause for Ukraine.

The European Commission’s decision was based on a mathematical model, according to which the impact of the CBAM on Ukraine’s overall economy was assessed as “minimal” — GDP was projected to decline by only 0.01% by 2035.

As reported by GMK Center, Ukrainian analysts and businesses called these calculations flawed and pointed to the threat of a 2.1–6.4% drop in real GDP due to critical losses in the steel sector.

Today, Ukraine continues active diplomatic negotiations with Brussels regarding special CBAM conditions, as the country is an official candidate for EU membership.