The president of Spain’s autonomous Murcia region has reportedly pledged to campaign against the adoption of the new EU-Morocco agreement of association at a national and European level after meeting with Spanish fresh produce groups.
Murcia president, Ramón Luis Valcárcel, met with Juan Marín, president of Murcian exporter association Proexport, and José Hernández, head of Fepex’s tomato committee to discuss the difficult situation facing Spanish tomato producers, during which he gave his backing to their fight against the new accord.
Following the encounter, Marín said: “We left very satisfied with the meeting with the president because he has promised his personal opposition and that of the Partido Popular’s MEPs to the EU-Morocco agreement of association.”
Proexport’s president claimed the trade deal, which has yet to be approved by the European Parliament, would threaten not just tomato producers, but all sectors of fruit and vegetable production in Spain if passed by MEPs.
“If we don’t halt its approval in the European Parliament, the difficult crisis that tomato producers are going through will in a short space of time move on to other sectors, leading to unemployment and the closure of companies, and for this reason we must act now,” Marín added.
