Spain’s fresh produce sector has reacted angrily to the European Commission’s proposal for a €150m aid package targeted at vegetable producers affected by the E.coli crisis, claiming the sum offered is “insufficient and ineffective”.
National federation Fepex has also called on the Spanish government to take the Commission to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg if the EU authorities do not agree to assume 100 per cent of the cost of damages caused to Spanish businesses.
The organisation claimed the current crisis in the Spanish fresh produce sector had been caused by the “bad management” of the Commission in terms of both its food safety alert system and its “slow and inefficient” actions to tackle the impact on the market.
Fepex described the compensation package proposed following a meeting of European agricultural ministers as “inefficient and ineffective” to counter “the damage caused to the Spanish fruit and vegetable sector and to regain normality in the markets”.
It said the Commission’s proposal would only cover the “minimum return price for a limited group of products at a level far below the cost of production”.
Murcia-based horticultural association Asaja Murcia joined in the criticism of the suggested aid package, calling the proposal “completely insufficient” for the losses suffered by Spanish producers.
The organisation called for the immediate intervention of Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to “demand aid that is proportionate to the financial losses” caused by the ‘cucumber crisis’ and the damage done to the image of Spanish products.
To date, Fepex said the situation for the Spanish fresh produce sector still remained “critical” and was being exacerbated by the ban imposed on a wide range of Spanish fruits and vegetables by Russia, the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
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