A Liberal MEP has thrown Brussels a curve ball and brought the issue of bendy bananas back into the spotlight.
Chris Davies, an MEP for the North West, said he raised the issue with the Commission to clear up an old claim about bureaucratic overregulation by Brussels. “People think bananas are just bananas, but there’s a huge difference between a long, straight one from Costa Rica and a short, curvy one from Cyprus,” he said in The Times. “Strip away the anti-European nonsense and there are sound reasons for most EU laws.”
In response, European Commissioner for Agriculture, Mariann Fischer Boel reassured Davies that the bendiness of bananas is a valid matter for Brussels. Fischer Boel said that in the 13 years that European legislation on bendy bananas has been in force, not one grower, wholesaler, retailer or customer has complained. Davies said that this was because the industry needs such trading standards.
