Freshfel Europe has reacted angrily to what it labels a “populist approach” from the European Commission to changing its marketing standards for fruit and vegetables this week.
The European Commission announced on Wednesday that it had consigned to history rules governing the size and shape of fruit and vegetables, “in an effort to streamline and simplify EU rules and cut red tape”.
European fresh produce trade association Freshfel countered that it does not understand why the Commission “seeks to drastically and arbitrarily reduce the number of product specific marketing standards unless the move is purely dictated by internal, selfish or populist arguments of the European Commission which are not related to the matter at stake”.
A statement released this morning reads: “Freshfel regrets this Commission initiative taken without the support of the sector at large. The move of the Commission is also taken despite broad opposition from Member States most notably from leading fruit and vegetable producing countries such as Spain, Italy, France, Greece and Poland, demonstrating the huge lack of support for this Commission proposal. “The Commission therefore desperately sought the support of the general public to justify its action.”
Philippe Binard, general delegate of Freshfel Europe, said: “It is astonishing to see how the European Commission embarked on such an unprecedented and costly media campaign to support the rationale of its proposal. The Commission launched indeed a significant and disproportionate media campaign to inform the public about the proposal and its potential benefits, communicating about a decision on this matter even before the discussion at the Management Committee level - a step in the EU decision process which is even not the final legal step for the adoption of a proposal.”
The Commission is “phasing out a tool which only became redundant from an EU administration perspective”, the trade body added. “It is also remarkable to note that the Commission arbitrarily fixed the list of products to remain subject to marketing standards to a round figure of 10 products. This further demonstrates that the agriculture commissioner Marian Fischer Boel purely managed the dossier from an administrative perspective failing to justify its proposal with consistent policy or market arguments or failing as well to take into account the unanimous views expressed by the experts from the sector.”
Binard said: “We feel the European Commission has used the marketing standards dossier solely to fulfil its own communication agenda, without at anytime seriously having taken into account the points of view of the fruit and vegetable sector. The predicted advantages of the deregulation might soon be overtaken by other disadvantages in the supply chain and lead consumers to confusion or uncertainties about the quality of produce.
“The Commission proposal could lead to unripe or undesirable produce possibly ending up on the market. Those lower quality produce could damage the already very sensible fruit and vegetable market. Marketing standards have been in place in the EU since the set up of the Common Market Organisation for fruit and vegetables 50 years ago. If these standards were so bad, why have they not been removed earlier by the Commission?”
Freshfel reiterated that marketing standards define clear rules for all contracting parties in an increasingly global trading environment. “Whilst the increased market share of retailers has lead to a majority of fresh produce having to comply with additional requirements and provide further guarantee of quality to final consumers, the
EU marketing standards (and its compulsory character) continue to serve as a common language for trade and remain a solid guarantee for consumers anywhere to buy products of a constant high quality to stimulate the stagnating consumption of fruit and vegetables in Europe,” the statement said.
“Freshfel would rather welcome a similar enthusiasm of the Commission to communicate the health benefits of fresh produce consumption, a matter that is more relevant for the EU citizens.”
