Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-13-Speech-4-018"
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"en.20000413.2.4-018"2
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"Mr President, we all want to see the end of the ‘banana war’, but the immense complexity of the problem deceives no one. Clearly the banana has become a political issue, with the dispute symbolising a certain conception of world trade, of a Europe which stands by and defends its decisions, its specific political nature and its commitment to the countries of the South.
So on this issue – I know – the Commission’s task is not an easy one. It is torn between contradictory positions and I understand the difficulties encountered in trying to reconcile the various interests. But while I share the desire to put an end to a trade war which is poisoning transatlantic relations, this cannot be done at any price, abandoning without compensation the principles of justice and solidarity which guide the action of the European Union.
I, for one – and there are many in this Parliament who feel the same – refuse to see Europe dictated to, even indirectly, by a handful of multinationals with colonialist attitudes and anachronistic social behaviour. I am sorry, too, that we have not fought for the retention of a specific quota for the ACP countries which alone guaranteed them access to the market. But the rapporteur’s proposal is satisfactory because it defends the quota system and rejects any automatic move to an exclusively tariff-based regime. So I thank him and I also thank Mr Fernández Martín for putting the committee’s point of view.
Of course, the ACP countries know they must adapt to world trade. But let us give them time. Let us give them enough time, let us give them the means to produce their plants themselves, let us help them build their greenhouses. Let us encourage organic farming and, in ten years, believe me, the price of African bananas will have fallen to the level of dollar bananas. They will then become competitive. If we impose the brutality of an exclusively tariff-based regime too rapidly, bananas are going to taste incredibly bitter to thousands of small African producers."@en1
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