CANARIAN AGRICULTURE AND THE E.E.C. ENLARGEMENT

The suitability for that sector of making a decision against integration in the Customs Union, such as the one recently adopted in the Parliament of the Canarian Autonomous Community, is being heavily questioned. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the extremely negative repercussions that the non-integration in the Customs Union might have for the agricultural sector of the islands.

In fact, if the Canary Islands are excluded from the Customs Union they will not be likely to benefit from the possible advantages of the Common Agricultural Policy of the E.E.C., with the following possible consequences:

1. The agricultural products of the islands would maintain their status of products from third countries, with customs tariffs at least as high as the present ones, and would be subject to restrictive schedules.
2. Under this hypothesis, it is not unlikely that the Canarian products would be subject to customs tariffs to enter the peninsular territory of Spain, just like the rest of the Community territory.
3. The exclusivity given in the Spanish market to the Canarian production of bananas, as stated in article 9 of the Law of Economic and Fiscal Regime of the Canary Islands (Law n° 30/1972) would be unlikely to be maintained due to the existing agreements with the A.C.P. countries included in the Lomé II Convention.
4. The increasing competition with products from the South-Eastern peninsular provinces that the sub-sector of fruit and vegetable exports is facing would be further increased, with a subsequent disadvantageous position for the islands, since that peninsular area would not be subject either to customs tariffs or to restrcitive schedules

Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files)