The European Union's agriculture minister Mariann Fischer Boel has said that ending the ongoing EU-Latin American banana dispute could be 'desirable' for all parties involved, although not at any cost.
EU regulators have been negotiating with Latin American banana-exporting nations on an agreement to reduce current import tariffs – tariffs that these exporters feel currently hands an unfair advantage to African-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) exporters, many of whom can export the fruit to the EU tariff-free.
Latin American countries have complained to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over the tariffs on numerous occasions, with the EU losing the case each time.
A new deal was negotiated in July 2008 at the Doha round of WTO talks in Geneva, Switzerland, but these fell apart following the collapse of wider negotiations.
Ms Fischer Boel said that now could be the time to end the long-running dispute, but only if the deal made sense for the EU, Reuters reported.
'If we can find the right balance, and that is of course the condition, I would be in favour of trying to find a solution – but certainly not under any circumstances,' she said. 'It could be desirable to end this ongoing discussion.'
The deal, if it were to be agreed, would involve the dropping of all lawsuits against the EU and would remain a fixed tariff with no chance of additional cuts when the Doha talks resume, she added.
