European Parliament
Esther Herranz García  (PPE ).
(ES)
Mr President, last year Parliament’s Committee on Petitions asked the European Commission to amend the entry price system for fruit and vegetables entering the Union. This system allows products from third countries to enter fraudulently, as the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) itself has stated. These products are primarily Moroccan tomatoes.
The Governments of Spain, France and Italy issued a statement last year that made the same request. We can combat this fraud by amending the Regulation on application of the Common Market Organisation (CMO) for agricultural products, because the problem will not be resolved by aligning the Customs Code, Commissioner.
For several years I have been speaking up within the Spanish
Partido Popular
about the need to stop new concessions to Morocco until such time as the European Union has the necessary instruments in place to ensure compliance with the agreement currently in force.
The European Commission argues that the Member States should control imports. However, what the Commission does not say is that the current entry price system prevents national customs authorities from being able to properly trace the prices declared by importers in order to check for irregularities.
Amend the Regulation on the application of the CMO for agricultural products and part of the problem will be solved. If you do not, the legal loophole in European legislation will prevent national authorities from doing their jobs properly.

