Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-12-13-Speech-3-066"
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"en.20001213.2.3-066"2
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"Mr President, this endless saga of the ‘banana’ conflict between the European Union and the dollar banana producing countries which is no mere anecdote but an object lesson in more ways than one, for 20% of the bananas consumed in the European Union are produced in the outermost regions of the Community, and these regions need this production for their development. A further 20% of these bananas are produced in ACP countries which also need this production for their development and with which we have entered into commitments which we ought to respect.
Each group of countries has been able to develop its production because we were offering them a market which we ought not now to take away from them. We should continue to have no problem about giving these producers the means to live by purchasing what they produce as a priority. It is only afterwards, for the remaining 60%, that we can open our doors to external producers on a free-trade basis. That was the thinking behind the COM in the banana sector, and that is the thinking behind our rapporteur, Mr Dary’s, counter-proposal.
The fact that the banana producers of the dollar zone are appealing to the dogma of what they call the ‘intangible’ free-trade doctrine in order to impose a ‘tariff only’ system upon us should not either impress or intimidate us. Let us therefore remain as firmly committed to the particular cultivation method we favour as the Americans are to their protectionist system where sugar, tobacco, peanuts or dairy products are concerned.
We must hold fast, for if we give way today on the issue of bananas, why should we not give way tomorrow where the other common organisations of the market are concerned: on the CAP or European farm model advocating sustainable development? We ought to stick to our guns; otherwise, we shall lose all control over our food chain. In line with the same principles, we shall have GMOs, hormone-treated meat and social dumping foisted upon us. We must hold fast, and it is, rather, for the WTO to move on and to abandon its defensive, ‘tariff only’ fortress which is only too reminiscent of a profit only fortress.
The ‘banana’ issue is an important milestone on the path of this necessary development for which the European Union should be working with all its might."@en1
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