European Farmers Unite to Challenge Moroccan Tomato Imports

The Coordination of Farmers’ and Livestock Producers’ Organizations (COAG), one of the largest agricultural professional organizations in Spain, continues to denounce the unfair competition from Morocco which, taking advantage of its free trade agreement with the EU, is invading European markets with its tomatoes. Since last year, Morocco has become the main supplier of tomatoes to Europe, ahead of Spain, recalls El Debate.

In a complaint filed in January with the Court of Auditors, COAG accused Morocco of tax fraud, stressing that the kingdom has exceeded the duty-free limit of some 230,000 tons per year since 2019, and that consequently, it owes the sum of 71.7 million euros to Spain for the excess tomatoes exported to Europe. Pending the outcome of this legal procedure, the Spanish organization continues its fight against Moroccan tomatoes.

On the sidelines of the International Conference "Fair Prices for Farmers" held this week in Brussels, a COAG delegation, led by Andrés Góngora, the association’s head of fruits and vegetables, held a meeting with its French partners from the Confédération paysanne to study the strategies to be implemented to put an end to this unfair competition from Morocco.

"We are analyzing two possibilities: going through the national courts of each country and filing a complaint in Spain on the one hand and in France on the other, or if we have to go through the European Court of Justice," explains Góngora, stressing that, on the recommendation of a French law firm, they will directly seize the European court to demand sanctions against Morocco.

This is the same firm that had accompanied the Polisario in the case of the labeling of tomatoes produced in the Sahara by Morocco, which led to the cancellation of the EU-Morocco agreement. "The court will recognize our capacity to take action as agricultural organizations," said the official. "For us, it is a matter of unfair competition, trade and market, but for Morocco, it is its sovereignty over a territory that is at stake, and this goes beyond the purely commercial."