Brussels, 30/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - According to Amine Mounir, the vice-president and spokesperson for the Moroccan interprofessional fruit and vegetable organisation, the Fédération interprofessionnelle marocaine des fruits et légumes (FIFEL), Morocco is in danger of “losing around 130,000 tonnes of its export potential” in tomatoes, as a result of changes to the access regime made in Brussels last April.
He announce, therefore, that the submission of “a complaint to the European Court of Justice before 15 July”. In this way, this sector is calling for “the quashing of the delegated act and its suspension”. In an interview in the Moroccan weekly newspaper, Tel Quel, he warned that the sector was calling its current situation to remain unchanged. He also explained that the EU intended to incorporate the delegated act (Ed: this is the official wording of the procedure approved in April by the European Parliament) at the start of the new export campaign in October, which will directly affect Moroccan tomatoes.
According to Mounir, FIFEL would like the former system to remain operational, which is a “deductive method that would not affect our current export levels”. If this is not the case, “the consequences could prove disastrous in terms of investment and for thousands of jobs. They could also lead to the decline of a sector that helps absorb part of the trade deficit between Morocco and the EU”.
The new method will introduce “a system for calculating the average weighted price of all varieties of tomatoes, in order to establish standard import values and will only affect Moroccan exports subject to quotas” particularly tomatoes. “This calculation could reduce the tonnage Morocco exports to Europe.” Mounir explained that the goal to “regulate and distribute a part of our exports throughout the year” would be harmful because “central purchasing agencies, such as the supermarkets, will no longer buy from us because we will not be on the European market throughout the whole year”. (FB)