Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-02-02-Speech-3-244-000"
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"en.20110202.18.3-244-000"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Parliament has been called upon to express its opinion on two agreements that have been signed with the United States and with 11 Latin American countries, which will draw a line under a long and difficult affair. This affair has witnessed the European Union challenged at the World Trade Organisation, and more importantly has witnessed it as the losing party.
It is a thorny issue, as the disputes relate to the principle of non-discrimination in international trade, which Europe has been accused of breaching in the way in which banana imports are organised within the Union. This is because we have a two-track system in that we apply one system to African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and a different system to other countries. This system allowed ACP countries to bring this product to the European market without paying any import duty, unlike other countries, which have to pay a duty of EUR 176 per tonne.
This agreement therefore brings the situation back into balance and most importantly allows ACP countries, which are in a fragile state of development, to export their products to the EU duty-free. At the same time, the other countries that have signed the agreements will be able to export bananas to the EU subject to the payment of import duties, which however will be gradually reduced over the period 2011–2017 from the current rate of EUR 176 per tonne to EUR 114 per tonne.
However, as well as finally bringing the EU back into line with its commitments as a member of the World Trade Organisation and therefore in some ways restoring its credibility, including as an institution, the most important aspect is that these agreements make allowances for ACP countries in a vulnerable state of development, as they provide for instruments to give them financial support. These instruments will allow those countries to invest in diversifying their production and will therefore hopefully strengthen their economies. At present, these measures, worth EUR 190 million, are to be provided until 2013.
I believe that these agreements are a positive step, not only because they draw a line under disputes in which the EU has been the losing party, with the ensuing consequences in economic and disciplinary terms and in terms of its institutional credibility as I already mentioned, but also because they lead to a balanced solution that respects the needs both of these ACP countries and of European producers in the outermost regions, who certainly cannot be abandoned to unbridled competition.
I therefore propose that Parliament should approve these agreements, whilst asking the Council and Commission for firm commitments. In the first instance, they should provide, as quickly as possible, for an evaluation of the impact that these agreements will have between now and 2020 – quite a long timescale, therefore – on ACP countries and on European producers in the outermost regions, whose economies are closely tied to bananas. Secondly, Parliament should ask for a firm commitment to evaluating the effects of the financial accompanying measures earmarked for the ACP countries eighteen months before they are due to end. This would ensure that those countries could receive further assistance and support measures if necessary, so that they are not left to go it alone and are supported in combating, counteracting and mitigating to some degree any negative consequences that the entry into force of these agreements may have within the European Union due to the price adjustments and hence to changes in the competitiveness of bananas from other countries.
I therefore believe that by resolving a tricky issue this agreement definitely provides a way out that also takes into consideration the needs of those weaker countries which, as I have already said, have always been our main concern, including during the long debate we had in the Committee on International Trade. I hope they will find strong support and a favourable solution in these accompanying measures, in particular in terms of monitoring and the commitment, which Parliament is asking of the Commission and Council, to look at the impacts of the agreement and the effects of the aid measures, and to extend and increase them if necessary in the future."@en1
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