Fischler rejects farm policy claims

Claims that EU farm policy hurts developing countries have been rejected as pure fiction by Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler.

Speaking in Washington, he said the EU is by far the largest importer of farm exports from the developing world. The EU imports more agricultural products from the developing countries (6 billion) than the US, Canada, Australia and Japan combined.

“Our average import tariff on agricultural imports is only 10%, a level which compares respectably with any country at the WTO negotiating table,” he said.