In France and Brussels, the circulation problems of freight transport become even more complicated. Fepex, the Spanish Federation of Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, finds unacceptable and unjust the protests that French farmers continue to wage against Spanish fruit and vegetable production, obstructing the free movement of trucks and destroying goods, forgetting the production of other fruits. From third parties, and especially from Morocco, the main country of entry for Moroccan fruits and vegetables is France, with 50% of the total imported by the EU in 2022.
According to Fepex leaders, “While France is the largest importer of fruit and vegetables from Morocco, it is unacceptable that French farmers continue to blame and harm Spanish production, subject to the same community regulations.” According to Eurostat, community imports of Moroccan fruits and vegetables in 2022 amounted to 1,540,851 tonnes, of which 776,839 tonnes, or 50%, were imported by France. France is also the second Member State with the most imports from countries outside Europe.
Guarantee of the single market
Fepex calls on the French authorities to take action to guarantee the free movement of goods and not contribute to the weakening of the single market. It should not be forgotten that Spain also imports fruits and vegetables from France, especially 809,239 tons of potatoes in 2022 alone.
Spanish producers are in a disadvantaged situation Same problems as the French According to Fepex. In fact, it agrees with the three axes of demands put forward by FNSEA, the main organization organizing the protests, published on Thursday: “Dignity of farmers in their work”, “fair wages for their work” and “Fair wages for farmers’ work”. “Re-establishing acceptable conditions for the practice of the profession,” he said, explaining that at this third point there is a lack of legislative accumulation, lack of reflection on food sovereignty and lack of decisions consistent with the discourses.
Fepex therefore considers a significant reform of community policy, particularly in the field of phytosanitary, as a priority, unless verifiable reciprocity measures are implemented in third-party supplier countries to the EU.
Reaction of the Spanish Government
HE Minister of Agriculture Luis Planas In response to alleged statements by French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who yesterday condemned the “unfair competition” of European Union countries such as Spain and Italy, he assured that “there is no competitive advantage”.
“We are in European Union, Therefore, marketing production standards are similar in all member countries and all member countries apply them in the same way. Therefore, no competitive advantage can be gained from the application of different standards,” Planas assured in statements to the media. European PressHe emphasized that “the same rules that apply in France also apply in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands and other Member States.”
But Planas emerged to defend the quality of Spanish products. “If our fruits and vegetables, all our agri-food products, are in the first places in Europe and in many countries of the world, it is precisely thanks to the work of our farmers and ranchers and the agri-food industry on quality and competitiveness, and not for any other reason,” he emphasized .