It is more than a mere coincidence, on the day a bunch of Spanish ship-owners met to defend, in Dakhla, the renewal of the fisheries agreement, European farmers gathered in Spain to launch a campaign against the Moroccan tomatoes. Moroccan tomatoes are accused of invading the EU market. This is at least what the «Group de Contact de la Tomate» (Tomato Contact Group), which brings together the French, Italian, and Spanish producers said on Friday. Representatives from the three countries agreed to meet on Friday, February the 16th in Alicante, a port city on Spain's southeastern Costa Blanca, and the capital of the Alicante province, to examine the «skyrocketing» Moroccan imports, reports La Verdad online newspaper. The meeting was also attended by diplomats representing the three nations. At the end of their gathering, the participants agreed to «ask the European Commission to apply the CJEU's ruling, excluding the products coming from the Sahrawi territory from the trade agreement signed by the European Union and Morocco», explained Fernando Gomez, head of the Producers-Exporters Association of Fruits and vegetables of the Murcia Region (PROEXPOT). Yes to Western Sahara fish and no to tomatoes The group calls Brussels to «restrict imports, especially as they affect the supply and demand model, lead to a drastic drop in prices, and slow down the European production». While the «tomato contact group» accused in Alicante the Moroccan imports, the Spanish shipowners were meeting the same day in Dakhla with their Moroccan counterparts to defend fishing in Western Sahara. Representatives of the Spanish professionals present at the meeting warned against the consequences of the ruling, scheduled for the 27th of February, at the Court of Justice of the European Union, intending to put an end to the 2014 fisheries agreement. Advocate General Melchior Wathelet, a top legal advisor, said on Wednesday, 10th of January, as an opinion for the Court that the European Union's fisheries agreement with Morocco «is invalid». Wathelet justified his statement arguing that the agreement «does not respect the rights of people in the disputed Western Sahara region». In December 2011, the pelenary of the European Parliament rejected the extension of the fisheries agreement signed by the Kingdom and the EU by another year. At the time 326 votes refused the proposal, 296 others welcomed it while 58 did not vote. Agricultural lobbying groups had managed to convince MEPs to vote in favor of their interests.
