Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-02-02-Speech-3-264-000"
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"en.20110202.18.3-264-000"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I think this debate has been very interesting and has partly restated some of the anxieties and issues which we have already looked at in the Committee on International Trade.
I should like to re-emphasise an important fact that I think we lose sight of every now and then. These agreements represent the implementation of a specific commitment made by the European Union, in its role as a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). We must not forget this. Through these agreements, the EU is undertaking to resolve a serious problem with important countries, which it is having to sort out because it has breached the principle of non-discrimination. These are therefore agreements that restore our credibility and proper position as members of the WTO.
This agreement follows on therefore from disputes and tensions, amid a climate that will certainly have been damaging for other areas of our relationships. As a definitive settlement agreement it is trying and succeeding to create a new balance, with particular attention, as we have said and have also stated in the resolution, to countries in fragile states of development.
The accompanying measures will now certainly be monitored, and to my mind this is the most important point. It is important to have established the accompanying measures, but it will be even more important to have the evaluations of their impact and to have the commitment, which I am delighted to have heard today from the Council and the Commission, to keep constant track of the situation as it develops and above all the willingness to assist with further measures if they should prove to be necessary.
POSEI (Programme of Options Specifically Relating to Remoteness and Insularity) itself has been incorporated into the resolution as a sensitive point that must be monitored due to the delicate balance between the financial contributions made under POSEI and the new situation regarding the outermost regions. Therefore the impact of the agreements on the outermost EU regions where bananas are produced will also be monitored and watched carefully.
The Council also mentioned the need to work on transparency in the agri-food chain, which I am happy about, as it is an important point. We have been talking about producers the whole time, but there is also the major issue of banana distribution within the EU.
There are many things that must be done going forward, therefore. We need to monitor the effects of the agreements, the implementation of the accompanying measures and the suitability of POSEI to protect Europe’s producers. We also need to use other instruments such as transparency in the agri-food chain and hence widen the scope of examination to take in the distribution chain as well, which has a major impact on the final cost of the fruit. We need to look at consumer protection, which is something that deserves our attention as much as all the other interests involved in this business. However, all these things, not least consumer protection, must start with the current situation and establishing the outcome of these disputes in which the EU has had to make concessions to the United States and the Latin American countries.
I hope therefore that these agreements will be adopted, because I believe they form an essential basis for making the instruments linked to the delicate balance of the banana market work and can guarantee clear practices that will benefit other interests also, such as consumer protection, which is linked to transparency in the agri-food chain. These will in turn bring improvements to the banana market and to our European producers, which are impossible without a sound basis such as that provided by finalising these disputes within the WTO, to which the European Union belongs."@en1
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