Bananas for market – Photo Milei Vencel
(BRUSSELS) – The European Parliament approved Thursday rules to protect EU banana growers against any surge in imports from Ecuador after its accession to the EU-Colombia/Peru trade deal.
Ecuador, one of the world`s biggest banana producers, joined the EU’s trade agreement with Colombia and Peru last month. Ecuador will have preferential access to the EU market, but the interests of EU growers will be protected by a temporary stabilisation mechanism.
Political agreement on this mechanism, which enables preferences to be suspended once an annual threshold is reached, was struck by ministers and MEPs in December. Parliament’s negotiators also inserted an early warning system, which will be triggered when import volumes reach 80% of the threshold. If this happens, then the EU Commission will have to alert Parliament and the Council.
Ecuador’s accession to the trade agreement with Colombia and Peru is expected to have a significant impact on EU banana producers. Concerns are that it might destabilise a sector which plays an essential role in the outermost regions and is responsible for 37,000 jobs.
The Commission has to review the situation in two years’ time and may extend the protection mechanism should the position of European growers worsen.
The EU is the biggest market for bananas – eaten in greater quantities than any other fruit in the world – and buys one third of global exports. EU imports come mainly from Latin America, while roughly 11% of European demand is met by producers in Spain (Canary Islands), France (Guadeloupe and Martinique), Portugal (Madeira and Azores) Cyprus and Greece. In these territories, the banana industry plays a key economic role and serves as a model of sustainability.
Further information, European Parliament
Adopted text (2015/0112(COD)) will soon be available here (02.02.2017)
