The Contact Group for tomatoes of the French-Spanish-Italian Joint Committee has sent two letters to the European Commission to inform it, on the one hand, about the difficult situation in the tomato market, and on the other hand, to emphasise the consequences and impact of the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding the suspension of the agricultural trade agreement with Morocco, as regards the products from Western Sahara.
The organizations of the Spanish delegation that form part of the Group (ASAJA, COAG, UPA, Cooperativas Agroalimentarias and FEPEX) have requested measures from the Commission to prevent the collapse of the European tomato market, which is going through seriously difficult times this campaign, facing not just the impact of the existing Russian ban on European exports, but also Russia's veto to Turkish shipments, given that tomatoes were the main vegetable exported by Turkey to Russia. The Contact Group is concerned about the possible consequences for European tomatoes if the Turkish production is diverted to the EU.
They have also reiterated their request to amend the method used to calculate the value of imports of Moroccan tomatoes and establish two import values, one for round tomatoes and another for cherry tomatoes. The calculation method used today does not allow for a proper monitoring of the European tomato market and significantly hampers the protection against unregulated imports from Morocco.
With regard to the ruling from the Court of Justice of the EU in case T-512/12, which cancelled the free trade agreement between the EU and Morocco, the Group has reminded the Commission that the increased imports of tomatoes and other products from Western Sahara are subject to the same conditions as those of the products from any other country with which the EU has not signed a trade agreement, and therefore should be subject to the general entry price and pay the corresponding customs tariffs. In this sense, they have asked the EU authorities to ensure the correct application of the law, clarifying how they will control the origin of the tomatoes and whether this will be done by means of special labelling to distinguish Moroccan products from those of Western Sahara.
Source: fepex.es