Bananas: special framework of technical and financial assistance for traditional ACP suppliers

At second reading, under cooperation procedure, the European Parliament approved the Council common position, as recommended by Peter Liese (D, EPP). It asked that a number of amendments be incorporated relating, notably, to the following areas: - specifying the rights of ACP States regarding access to the European market; - recognising the importance of the trade preferences of the Community banana regime as a real instrument of development for many ACP countries; - advocating additional support to ACP banana producers to help them adhere to higher environmental and social standards and fight poverty; - indicating the need to provide aid for diversification for those growers least able to adapt to the new market conditions; - providing support to encourage "fair trade" certification; - specifying that funding should primarily benefit small independent producers; - recommending that the Commission should implement a transparent technical and financial assistance mechanism enabling producers or producer organisations to pass aid on or to benefit from it as directly as possible; - specifying that the Commission's regular reports on the operation of the Regulation should focus on the improvement of the competitiveness of the traditional ACP banana sector and trends in banana producers' incomes.�