THE EU's concern about bananas was on the agenda in Strasbourg again yesterday, but this time it was not about their shape or size or the need to regulate the fruit, but a call for a consumer ban on certain bananas in favour of those produced in the Caribbean.
The Welsh Labour MEP, Ms Glenys Kinnock, was joined by a number of her colleagues in a call for a ban on bananas produced by American multinationals such as Chiquita, which exports bananas from huge plantations in South
America.
The campaign is aimed at protecting the economies of countries such as Jamaica, Dominica, St Vincent and St Lucia. According to Ms Kinnock, if consumers do not choose bananas from these countries they will be increasingly dependent on aid and international handouts and their democracies will be in jeopardy.
The campaign has been launched because the US has complained about the EU exempting Caribbean bananas from import tariffs. The US, which does not export bananas, has filed a complaint to the World Trade Organisation on behalf of its multinational companies.
Fine Gael's Ms Mary Banotti is supporting the EU campaign. This was a serious issue, she said. Companies such as Chiquita were causing major problems and had the backing of the US, partly due to the huge contributions the company had made to the US Democratic Party.
Ms Kinnock said the full might of the US legal and administrative system had been pitted against the democracies of small Caribbean countries.
The US multinationals already dominated the banana market in the EU. Of the 12 million tonnes consumed globally, only 2.5 per cent came from Caribbean producers and only 8 per cent of those eaten in the EU came from small suppliers in the Caribbean.
The MEPs warned that if the World Trade Organisation rules against the present arrangements, 90 per cent of the main export of the Windward Islands will be hit, along with 70 per cent of foreign exchange earnings, 60 per cent of their farming jobs and 25 per cent of the GDP.