Caribbean Sugar Producers to Fight Cuts
Thursday May 12, 8:06 pm ET
Caribbean Sugar Producers Vow to Challenge Looming EU Subsidy Cuts in U.N. Court
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) -- Caribbean sugar producers vowed Thursday to challenge looming EU sugar subsidy cuts in the International Court of Justice, saying they violate an agreement signed in the 1970s.
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The Sugar Association of the Caribbean will take the matter to the U.N. court even if the region's governments decide against it, said Allan Richards, a spokesman for the association. The association represents sugar companies throughout the Caribbean.
Richards spoke during a meeting of Caribbean Community trade and agricultural ministers, who are expected to announce Friday whether they will take action at the U.N.'s highest legal body.
The World Trade Organization ruled last month that the European Union's subsidies for sugar producers broke international trade rules.
Prior to the ruling, the European Union proposed reducing sugar subsidies to Caribbean producers by up to 37 percent between 2006 and 2008.
The five Caribbean Community countries that still have active sugar industries -- Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago -- say the subsidy cuts will cost them about US$90 million (euro69.5 million) a year. They're lobbying for a smaller reduction and assistance in adapting to the changes.
Richards said the WTO ruling "did not specifically recommend such a drastic price reduction." He also argued that the subsidy cuts violate an agreement signed in the 1970s in which the European Community agreed to import sugar from former colonies indefinitely at mutually agreed upon prices.
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