THE European Parliament has approved a controversial trade agreement between the EU and Morocco (FOODNEWS 3 February) that will liberalise 55% of agricultural and fisheries imports from the country, despite the agriculture committee’s call to veto the deal.
The vote was backed in Strasbourg by 369 votes to 225, with several MEPs raising concerns over ‘dumping’ of produce and the impact on EU farmers. The Parliament’s trade committee had last month approved the deal, despite MEPs in the agriculture committee warning of “disastrous impact on small farmers on both sides”. The deal, backed by member states in December 2010, was endorsed by the Parliament’s three largest political groups, though a resolution accompanying the vote has called on the Commission to monitor the impact on farmers. With 225 MEPs voting against the move, many from the European People’s Party (EPP), Socialists & Democrats (S&D) and Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) must have broken ranks
