EU to lower tariffs on Morocco's agricultural and fish exports

Feb 16, 2012, 16:38 GMT

Strasbourg, France - Morocco's economy got a boost Thursday, after the European Parliament agreed to lower tariffs on the country's agricultural and fish exports.

The trade deal was the first to be approved following last year's Arab Spring, which prompted the EU to pledge support for fledging economies in North Africa.

The agreement will immediately lift from 33 to 55 per cent the percentage of EU tariffs waived on Morocco's food produce, the bloc's assembly said in a statement.

It will also lift from 1 to 70 per cent the percentage of Moroccan tariffs on EU exports over the course of ten years, and includes safeguards, such as limited quota increases for tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers and garlic.

The deal was approved in a 369-225 vote, with 31 abstentions.

Jose Bove, a French Green parliamentarian and anti-globalization campaigner, withdrew his support to the EU-Morocco trade bill which he had initially drafted, arguing that its amended version favoured industrial producers at the expense of small-scale farmers.

He also complained that no provisions were made to exclude produce from Western Sahara, a Moroccan-held territory which is seeking independence. Free-trade agreements between the United States and Morocco contain such safeguards, Bove said.

Lawmakers from countries in southern Europe, which are likely to suffer from increased competition from Moroccan produce, also protested.

'Today's vote is a defeat for Italian agriculture,' said Giovanni La Via, a conservative parliamentarian from Sicily.

The trade deal is unrelated to another agreement whereby the EU paid Morocco to gain access to its fishing waters. The EU assembly struck it down in December out of concern that the money was not being shared with people in Western Sahara.

But an EU official told

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