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Thursday, March 30, 2006
EU gears up to overhaul banana subsidy regime
Europe's banana growers will soon face big changes to the way they receive the lavish EU subsidies that keep many of them in business, as the 13-year old policy comes in for a long-awaited overhaul, officials say.
After introducing a single-tariff import duty from 2006 that was the deal to end the 1990s "banana wars", which Europe lost at the hands of Ecuador and the United States, the EU has now turned its focus towards reforming its internal subsidy system. It will be of prime interest to France, Spain and Portugal, the EU's main banana growers in some of its remotest islands: Guadeloupe, Martinique, the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores. The Canary Islands are Europe's largest banana producer, turning out 412,000 tonnes in 2004.
EU gears up to overhaul banana subsidy regime
Tags: Tenerife, Canary Islands, Canarias
