An EU-Morocco trade deal that will significantly extend duty-free sales of agricultural and fisheries products between the two sides was approved by European lawmakers on Thursday 16 February, amid concerns that the pact could threaten the livelihoods of small-scale agricultural producers in both the North African kingdom and the 27-country bloc.
European Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloş lauded the bilateral deal, praising the “new opportunities” it would provide for European producers.
The agreement also “paves the way for a real reinforcement in our relations with Morocco,” the EU farm chief added.
The reciprocal agreement will allow 70 percent of EU agricultural exports to enter Morocco duty-free within the next decade. For its part, the EU will lift all its current duties on 55 percent of imports from Morocco.
The pact also includes a handful of measures to limit the impact of granting improved access to unprocessed fruit and vegetables from Morocco. For instance, the deal will allow only moderate increases in import quotas for certain sensitive products, along with including seasonal import quotas to avoid oversupply within the EU market.
Fruits and vegetables currently account for 80 percent of total EU imports from the North African country.
Union opposition
The deal has faced growing opposition in recent weeks, with critics arguing that the pact could damage the livelihoods of small-scale producers in Morocco and Europe.
Furthermore, Spanish farm unions insist that the deal would put 450,000 jobs at risk in a country that already has the highest unemployment rate in Europe, hitting 22.9 percent in December 2011.
The Spanish industry’s main lobby group, the COAG union, declared that it would challenge the deal at the European Court of Justice on the basis that imports from countries that do not adhere to EU labour and environmental standards cause market distortions.
“We will not stand idly by while the EU abandons Spanish fruit and vegetable farmers to their fate while allowing the uncontrolled entry of Moroccan produce grown at starvation wages,” COAG said in astatement.
The days preceding the Parliament vote saw unrest build on the streets of Madrid, when upset farmers, including COAG members, gathered together on 14 February to pelt the European Parliament and Commission office in the Spanish capital with tomatoes in protest of the trade pact.
Schulz: “Not an easy vote”
Although it was approved by a 369-225 margin, European Parliament President Martin Schulz acknowledged that “this was not an easy vote.”
“Morocco and the European Commission must now help in dispelling the concerns of many of my colleagues on the agreement especially for what concerns the rights of farmers, combating fraud, environmental protection, and food safety standards,” Schulz said.
In contrast, Green MEP Jose Bove warned that the farm trade deal was “unbalanced,” indicating that European farmers could not compete with Moroccan workers whose daily salary is five euros. He added that the agreement “is not in the interest of the average Moroccan citizen and not in the interest of the people of the Western Sahara.”
Morocco’s agriculture and fisheries minister Aziz Akhannouch promptly rejected these concerns, stating that many small farmers affiliated to large export cooperatives would benefit from the deal.
Farming accounts for 13 percent of Morocco’s gross domestic output. In addition, the agricultural sector suffered major job losses last year for the first time since 2000.
The deal is expected to be formally adopted by EU ministers in the coming weeks before entering into force in May or June.
ICTSD reporting: “EU Parliament Approves Disputed Morocco Farm Trade Deal,” AFP, 17 February 2012; “Spanish Farmers Protest Over EU-Morocco Trade Deal,” REUTERS, 14 February 2012; “Update 1- EU Parliament Approves Morocco Agriculture Trade Deal,” REUTERS, 16 February 2012.
