Failure by both sides to reach an agreement before the next tomato season could generate tensions with this country owing to the differences in the way the voluntary restraint clause on Moroccan exports is interpreted. How will the European Union avert such tensions? In the light of Morocco’s intention to est
ablish a free trade area with the United States, does the Commission not think that Rabat might be trying to buy time so that later on, once the negotiations with the United States bear fruit, it has an extra lever with which to extract more substantial concessions from the EU, to the detriment of the regions of southern Euro
pe geared ...[+++]to market gardening and adversely affected by this context of uncertainty and barely controlled competition? In view of the uncertainties created by this situation, what action will be taken in support of these regions?
Sieht die Kommissionen nicht die Gefahr, dass Rabat versucht sein könnte, auf Zeit zu spielen, um später, nach Abschluss der Verhandlungen mit den Vereinigten Staaten, mehr Druck ausüben zu können zum Nachteil der überwiegend von Obst- und Gemüseanbau lebenden südeuropäischen Regionen, die unter einer solchen Situation der Ungewissheit und des ungeregelten Wettbewerbs gewaltig leiden würden?
