Spanish farmers lobby the EP over Moroccan agreement, but wider political concerns are likely to dominate
22 January 2012
Spanish tomato farmers are lobbying intensively to halt the implementation of the Agricultural Protocol between the EU and Morocco, which it is held ‘is already having devastating consequences for the production areas’ in Spain. It is maintained by the Spanish fresh producers’ organisation that in the last year some 12,500 jobs have been lost in the Spanish tomato sector. Efforts are focused on lobbying the European Parliament to withhold ratification from the agreement.
However, these efforts need to be seen against the background of the 14 December 2011 ‘decision of the EU Foreign Affairs Council to authorise the opening of trade negotiations with Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia as soon as the necessary preparatory process is completed’. According to the EC, this decision ‘provides the European Commission with a mandate to start negotiations to establish deep and comprehensive free trade areas (DCFTAs)’. These new agreements ‘will go beyond removing only tariffs to cover all regulatory issues relevant to trade, such as investment protection and public procurement’.
According to EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, the EU is offering Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia ‘progressive economic integration into the EU single market’, by further improving ‘the conditions for market access to the EU’ for these four countries which are engaged in ‘a process of democratic and economic reform’.
Editorial comment
Given the scale of the ambition of the EU with regard to the process of economic integration of north African countries into the economic sphere of the EU, there would appear to be a need for ACP horticultural exporters to build into their investment plans an increase in competition in certain horticultural products arising from the deepening of trade integration with north African countries. This will require a detailed analysis of current trade flows from and investment plans in north African horticulture, with the aim of identifying clearly the particular product areas where an increase in competition with existing or planned ACP exports is likely.
