Spanish Minister Infuriates Tuna Fishermen By Proposing To Open EU Market To Thailandff
18 January 2005
Spain
The Galician tuna sector woke up to their worst nightmare. While Spain was asleep, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Miguel Angel Moratinos, informed Prime Minister of Thailand, Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra, about the disposition of the Spanish Government to support the opening of the European Union market to Thai fisheries. This decision would include tuna as well as prawns, to help in the economical recovery of this Asian country. Thailand’s towns located in the coastal fishing areas have been entirely devastated by the tsunami.
The president of the National Association of Canned Fish & Seafood Producers (ANFACO) and of EUROATUN, an association that integrates the European Tuna Industry, Juan Manuel Vieites, held an urgent meeting in Paris to analyse the solidity of Mr. Moratinos’ offer. The highly surprised Mr. Vieites enquired: “Doesn’t the Minister of Foreign Affaires have any advisors?â€
According to Mr. Vieites, Minister Moratinos has been naïve and has gotten tangled in a web of Thai multinational companies, which are taking advantage of the opportunities of international cooperation that they are offered to assist the country to introduce its products into the European market. He also comments that Mr. Moratinos has not considered the damage that this may cause to the Galician canned tuna industry. The president of Euroatun further clarified that the rejection to the opening of the Communitarian market to Thailand products has nothing to do with lack of solidarity or with egoism: “the multinationals that are requesting an opening to their products are located in the northern part of Thailand, a location which was not hit by the tsunami disaster, and their businessmen travel in private helicopters". Therefore, the Spanish canning industry maintains that allowing the entry to Thai tuna loins will not help the Thai population, however will damage the Galician industry.
Near the end of the meeting, the Spanish canning industry's disposition calmed down when the Minister of Agriculture and Fishery announced that the European Union had rejected the request on behalf of the Thai transforming industries to increase their export quotas to Europe for tuna and prawn. The reason given for this decision was that the companies requesting this had not been affected by the tsunami.
