ASEMESA rejects that the olive is an exchange currency for illegal aid to AIRBUS

The association meets with a delegation of European MP parliamentarians, who asks for their support in Brussels to “urgently eliminate” US tariffs.

Airbus earns more than 2,000 million in the last nine months, while the olive and other European agri-food products suffer the consequences of illegal EU aid.

Asemesa denounces that tariffs break the equality of competition between member states and urges the European Commission to recover the competitive balance.

He asserts that the tariffs break the equality of competition between the member states and urges the European Commission to regain the competitive balance (Seville, 10-31-2019). The Spanish Association of Exporters and Industrialists of Table Olives (Asemesa) has held a meeting with a delegation of parliamentarians of the European People’s Party to whom it has transferred its concern about the “dramatic situation” facing the sector after the new tariffs imposed by the US on green olives, a tax that had already weighed for a year and a half on black olives. The delegation of the European People’s Party has been headed by the president of the Committee on Agriculture of the EPP, Norbert Lins, and the deputy spokesman on agriculture, Juan Ignacio Zoido, accompanied by the president of the Committee on Agriculture of the Andalusian Parliament, Virginia Pérez, while Asemesa has attended his vice president, Francisco Javier Escalante, along with the general secretary, Antonio de Mora, among other members of the board of directors.
Asemesa has urged European parliamentarians to pressure the European Commission to negotiate the “urgent elimination” of the Trump administration’s tariffs before one of the key sectors of the Spanish agri-food industry runs the risk of going bankrupt. The meeting highlighted the economic and social importance of the table olive sector in Andalusia, Extremadura and other areas of Spain, highlighting its very important role in fixing the population to the territory and creating wealth, as well as The social contribution in rural areas where the olive grove is almost the only work alternative for thousands of families.
During the meeting, the immediate and visible consequences of tariffs on black olives have been analyzed in detail, with a loss of half of exports and the market that already reaches 60 million dollars. The real invoice, however, is much greater “because all the productive and commercial investments made, the goodwill and, what is more serious, the privileged position in the American market, leading to the entry of other countries than before were lost they were not competitive, ”said Asemesa’s secretary general, Antonio de Mora.

The representatives of Asemesa have insisted that the agri-food industry cannot be the one that pays the broken plates of the illegal subsidies of the EU to the aeronautical sector, reason why they demand urgent solutions aimed at the elimination of the
tariffs and not simple compensatory measures for the affected sectors. “While Airbus earns more than 2,000 million euros in the last nine months having received illegal aid from the EU, the Spanish agri-food sector is punished by US tariffs. The EU must take immediate measures to restore the balance of competitiveness between states. We have to be on an equal footing with countries such as Greece, Italy and Portugal, direct competitors of Spain that have not been affected by tariffs, ”said Asemesa Vice President Francisco Javier Escalante.
The representatives of the EPP have pledged to provide maximum support to the sector starting with the presentation next week of a resolution in the European Parliament and requesting a meeting with the still European Commissioner of Agriculture Phil Hogan, who will shortly be the new Commissioner of Commerce . They will also study other support proposals.