Brussels, 26/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - Greece, supported by Spain, Italy, Cyprus and Slovenia, has opposed a proposal by the European Commission to open up import quota for further quantities of olive oil to be exempt from tax or applied at a reduced rate. At Monday's Agriculture Council, which was held in Luxembourg, these countries said that such a measure, "which is unprecedented", and which is currently being negotiated within the management committee on olive oil, will seriously harm the sector, by leading, "without any doubt", to a considerable reduction of prices and market dysfunctioning. The countries note that this decision would be taken just as the EU's new olive oil harvest is put on the market. If it is also borne in mind that the new common market organisation (CMO) for the olive oil sector will take effect as of 1 January 2006, the opening up of an import quota "would sow confusion among producers, destroy their confidence in the Community acquis and compromise their income", according to Greece. The Commission is therefore called upon, particularly in the current economic cycle, to refrain from adopting any measure which may lead to imports of olive oil onto the internal market of the EU.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Mariann Fischer Boel, stressed that the drought which hit the south of the EU earlier in the year has had serious consequences for the production and prices of olive oil. She took note of the increase in prices to a level between 40 and 50% since July 2005, and growing market demand for olive oil, offset against the limited availability of these products (an opinion which is not shared by Greece, which argues that the olive oil market "continues to be supplied sufficiently with quality products and that consumption is maintaining a stable level"). The Commissioner said that the new CMO offered the possibility for imports to be facilitated, under certain conditions. Ms Fischer Boel stressed that the EU had agreements with the euro-Mediterranean countries and that in virtue of these agreements, Tunisia had an annual quota of 56,000 tonnes in 2005 (without customs duty). For the other countries of the Mediterranean, the quota stands at 7000 tonnes. Without really specifying whether the Commission was prepared to come back on its proposal to open up an import quota, Ms Fischer Boel stated that the meeting of the consultative group on olive oil, to be held on 7 November, would allow the socio-economic actors of the sector to give their opinion on this proposal.