The European Parliament adopted a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 19/2013 implementing the bilateral safeguard clause and the stabilisation mechanism for bananas of the Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and Colombia and Peru, of the other part, and amending Regulation (EU) No 20/2013 implementing the bilateral safeguard clause and the stabilisation mechanism for bananas of the Agreement establishing an Association between the European Union and its Member States, on the one hand, and Central America on the other.
The European Parliament’s position, adopted at first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure, amended the Commission proposal as follows:
EU/Colombia and Peru trade agreement: Parliament proposed extending to Ecuador the current stabilisation mechanism for bananas. Ecuador is one of the main producers and suppliers of bananas to the Union, along with Colombia.
Increase transparency: the Commission shall transmit to the European Parliament and the Council the relevant information on the trends in bananas and import statistics concerning the imports from the countries subject to the stabilisation mechanism and their relevant thresholds in order to anticipate import trends over the rest of the calendar year.
When import volumes reach 80 % of the trigger import volumes for the application of the stabilisation mechanism for bananas, for one or more of the parties to the Agreement, the Commission shall formally alert the European Parliament and the Council in writing.
Application: due to the close interrelation with the Agreement, it is appropriate to apply this Regulation from the date of provisional application of the Protocol of Accession to the Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and Colombia and Peru, of the other part, to take account of the accession of Ecuador.
The European Parliament also approved a joint declaration by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission annexed to the resolution in which the three institutions agreed on the following:
- upon request by the responsible committee of the European Parliament, the Commission will report to it on any specific concerns relating to the implementation by Colombia, Ecuador or Peru of their commitments on trade and sustainable development;
- if the European Parliament adopts a recommendation to initiate a safeguard investigation, the Commission will carefully examine whether the conditions for ex-officio initiation are fulfilled. If the Commission considers that the conditions are not fulfilled, it will present a report to the responsible committee of the European Parliament including an explanation of all the factors relevant to the initiation of such an investigation;
- the Commission will, by 1 January 2019, assess the situation of Union banana producers. If a serious deterioration in the state of the market or the situation of Union banana producers is found to have occurred, an extension in the period of validity of the mechanism may be considered with the agreement of the parties to the Agreement;
- the Commission will continue to carry out regular analyses of the state of the market and the situation of Union banana producers after expiry of the stabilisation mechanism and examine the situation, together with the Member States and the stakeholders, and decide whether appropriate measures should be considered if a serious deterioration is found to have occurred.
Lastly, the Commission will pay special attention to reviewing the format of the import surveillance data in order to make available regularly updated information in a more user-friendly manner.