Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter
THE EUROPEAN Union's (EU) cut in prices for African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)-produced sugar is not a 'done deal', say members of a joint ACP-EU mission to visit Jamaica next week.
The ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly will include three parliamentarians from each organisation. The ACP parliamentarians will be led by Member of Parliament for South Central St. Catherine, Sharon Hay-Webster, president of the ACP Assembly and co-president of the EU-ACP Assembly.
United Kingdom member of the European Parliament (MEP) Glenys Kinnock, in saying earlier this week that the cut was not a 'done deal', disclosed that "... the level of the price cut is still very much up for discussion". Kinnock is Mrs. Hay-Webster's opposite number in the EU.
SUGAR REFORMS
EU Agriculture Ministers are expected to finalise their sugar reforms in November which includes the proposed 39 per cent reduction in price to be made over three years beginning next July.
The EU's slackening tariff and price support for ACP sugar and bananas will also be under discussion at the 10th meeting of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly between November 19 and 24 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Mrs. Hay-Webster agreed with Mrs. Kinnock's assessment. "It is not done yet. I have written to all MEPs and they have as a group been very sympathetic ... Mrs. Kinnock has proven remarkable in her willingness to listen and carry forward to her EU colleagues the positions we have presented to her."
Mrs. Kinnock is also the U.K.'s spokesperson for International Development and coordinator for the U.K.'s Department for International Development in the European Parliament.
"I figure that the trip will be very productive," added Mrs. Hay-Webster. "Mrs. Kinnock will have seen, heard and spoken to the stakeholders, not just the officials, but also the farmers and farm workers who are the people whose livelihood will be most affected by the EU's actions."
Before arriving here on Monday - where they will stay until Friday - the party will be meeting in Guyana today for a similar visit.
