Spain defends strengthening control of rice imports in the European Union

ACN/Brussels – Spain’s Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, has defended strengthening controls on rice imports into the European Union to protect producers such as those in Catalonia, the Valencian Community, Andalusia and Extremadura. In the reform of the regulation on the Generalised System of Preferences, an automatic safeguard mechanism has been introduced to curb rice imports in the event of a significant increase compared to the EU’s historical average of imports. Italy will request lower thresholds to trigger this mechanism, and Spain supports the move, Planas explained on Monday upon his arrival at the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council.

The Generalised System of Preferences provides preferential trade access to the EU market for vulnerable developing countries. The reform currently under negotiation in Brussels includes new conditions for these countries regarding human rights and climate change, but also requires them to readmit migrants if they wish to benefit from preferential EU tariffs.

The new regulation ???????????es that, in the event of a significant increase in rice imports above the historical EU average, these imports will be subject to Most Favoured Nation tariffs for a specific period to prevent serious disruptions in the EU rice market.

The Council of the EU, representing the member states, and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the reform at the end of the year, but it still needs to be approved by the respective institutions. Italy and Spain therefore hope that the safeguard mechanism for rice can be strengthened.

“This is currently a legislative debate, but with important consequences, because rice imports at prices significantly lower than those in the European Union put at risk a production that is already quantitatively smaller,” Planas said.