(1)

Negotiations should be opened with a view to concluding an agreement amending the Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine on the carriage of freight by road (the ‘Agreement’), including its duration.

(2)

In view of the exceptional and unique circumstances that necessitated the negotiation of the Agreement and in accordance with the Treaties, the Council deemed it appropriate for the Union to exercise temporarily the relevant shared competence conferred upon it by the Treaties. Such consideration applies also to the amendment of the Agreement. However, any effect of this Decision on the division of competences between the Union and the Member States should be strictly limited in time. The competence exercised by the Union on the basis of this Decision and the Agreement, including the amendments to be negotiated under this Decision, should therefore only be exercised during the period of application of the Agreement. Accordingly, the shared competence thus exercised will cease to be exercised by the Union as soon as the Agreement ceases to apply. Without prejudice to other Union measures, and subject to compliance with those Union measures, that competence will, in accordance with Article 2(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), again be exercised by the Member States thereafter. Furthermore, it is recalled that, as set out in Protocol No 25 on the exercise of shared competence, annexed to the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and to the TFEU, the scope of the exercise of the competence of the Union in this Decision covers only those elements governed by this Decision and does not cover the whole area. The exercise of Union competence by this Decision is without prejudice to the respective competences of the Union and of the Member States in relation to any ongoing or future negotiations for, or signature or conclusion of, international agreements with any other third country in that area.

(3)

The Commission should be nominated as the Union negotiator.

(4)

The negotiations should be conducted by the Commission in consultation with the Working Party on Land Transport of the Council and in accordance with the respective roles of the institutions set out in Article 13(2) of the TEU and in Article 218 of the TFEU, as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the European Union,