John Perry
Question:137 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will make statement on correspondence (details supplied). [8986/04]
View answerTuesday, 23 March 2004
Questions (145)
Written answers
The Council of Agriculture Ministers is acutely aware of the needs of developing countries and of the implications for them of policy decisions taken at EU level. I am satisfied that the recent reform of the CAP will be of benefit to developing countries, including ACP countries. Decoupled payments will replace production related supports, thereby reducing the potential distortion impact of production related supports.
Trade with ACP countries is governed by the terms of the ACP-EU partnership, which was signed in Cotonou in June 2000, under which the EU grants non-reciprocal trade preferences to imports from ACP countries. In September 2002, the ACP countries and the EU officially launched negotiations on a series of economic partnership agreements which will replace the existing arrangements with reciprocal agreements that are WTO compatible and which will retain an element of differential treatment for the ACP countries. These economic partnership agreements will cover trade in agricultural products. The current preferential trade regime has been extended pending completion of the negotiations.
Furthermore, the EU has recently abolished tariffs and other such restrictions on all products from the 49 poorest countries on the planet, the least developed countries. This "everything but arms" initiative gives these countries immediate duty and quota free access to the EU market. This includes products such as beef, milk products, fruit and vegetables. A transitional period applies for rice, bananas and sugar but full liberalisation will be in place by 2009.
In the context of the WTO talks, the EU is asking that other developed WTO partners provide similar concessions.
Question No. 138 answered with QuestionNo. 127.
Question No. 139 answered with QuestionNo. 135.