Insiders close to the president of the European Parliament have denied Josep Borrell proposed a 20 per cent reduction in the import tariff for bananas arriving in the EU while on a tour of Latin America earlier this month.
“All he said when the question was posed is that it is a technical question which is a matter for the trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson,” a spokesman from the president’s office told freshinfo.
It had been widely reported that president Borrell made the “offer” during a meeting with Panamanian president Martín Torrijos. Borrell was in the country to deal with the Panama-Central America integration process and the association agreement between the region and the European Union(UE).
“The future association agreement will be the right forum for this,” said the spokesman. “The banana import regime is a technical matter for the European Commission and is not in the remit of the president of the European Parliament.”
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