Spanish fresh produce federation Fepex has urged the Spanish government to take the European Commission to the European Court of Justice for “not assuming its responsibilities for its bad management of the cucumber crisis”.
The call comes the day after the Commission’s management committee, comprising representatives from all 27 EU member states, approved a €210m aid package for growers affected by the crisis, a total Fepex has denounced as “clearly insufficient”.
Instead, the Madrid-based organisation said the Commission had “the responsibility and the obligation” to compensate the Spanish fresh produce sector for 100 per cent of the losses “caused by its bad management”.
Fepex accused the European authorities of continuing with a “deficient” food safety alert system that had allowed the issuing of a warning about Spanish cucumbers despite a lack of conclusive proof and slammed the “slow and inefficient” application of measures to tackle the resultant crisis in European markets.
The federation also accused the Commission of designing an aid package of principal benefit to Spain’s competitors, especially the Netherlands.
Fepex said the Spanish government, which voted against the package alongside France, Poland and Slovakia, should now take the Commission to court for failing to accept responsibility for 100 per cent of the damages suffered by Spain’s fruit and vegetable growers.
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