Text tabled : A7-0023/2012

  Robert Dušek (S&D), in writing. – (CS) The agreement between the EU and Morocco is misguided and damaging. The rapporteur, José Bové, and the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development are fundamentally opposed to its adoption. In view of the events in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria, it should be emphasised that the agreements on liberalisation introduced so far have failed to achieve the stated objectives, and we cannot therefore continue with a policy which favours the economic interests of powerful entities without assessing the social impacts on the population and the damage caused to the environment and the climate. The report has particularly drastic negative consequences for European and North African agriculture and fishing because it strengthens industrial agriculture at the expense of sustainable agriculture. It confronts European producers with unfair competition in the form of dumping based on child labour and jobs with no social standards whatsoever. For North Africa, the submitted report is harmful for the environment in particular. Powerful agricultural interests draw underground freshwater for their own agricultural profit in such a way that its surface is falling by 1.5 metres a year on average. For example, in Morocco, it takes 100 litres of water to grow one kilogramme of tomatoes, compared to 10 litres of water in France or Germany. I fully support the negative opinion of the rapporteur, and I oppose adoption of the agreement between the EU and Morocco on liberalisation measures for agricultural products and fishery products.