The European Commission said yesterday it was prepared to compromise in its long-running banana trade dispute with Latin America, to further along World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations.
WTO chief Pascal Lamy has proposed that Europe gradually reduce its import tariff to €116 (£92) a tonne by 2015, from the current rate of €176. The commission has said it will accept the offer, as reported on AFP.
The EU’s banana import regime was taken to task by the WTO at the bidding of Latin American banana growers, who felt the system discriminated in favour of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.
ACP banana producers, many of which are former European colonies, benefited from what their Latin American rivals feel is preferential market access in the EU.
Under Lamy's proposals, Latin American countries would agree to a “peace clause”.
The EU offer comes ahead of a WTO meeting to revive the Doha round of global free-trade negotiations.
EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson said in a statement: “Resolving this long-running problem must be part of a final Doha deal. That means balancing the needs of two different sets of developing countries, while taking into account the interests of EU banana producers. Pascal Lamy's proposals have given us a basis to do that.”
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