EU agriculture official travels to Morocco to discuss changes to EU rules on Entry Price System for Fruits and Vegetables

Plewa "has expressed his readiness to follow up on these technical level discussions", said on Monday spokesman of the European commissioner in charge of agriculture and sustainable development, Roger Waite.

Moroccan authorities criticized the EU decision to change rules on Entry Price System for Fruit and Vegetables as both "astonishing and incomprehensible".

"The relationship of confidence and sustainable partnership is being jeopardized, said Moroccan agriculture minister who argued that the unilateral decision, which concerns two parties linked by an agreement, threatens the Moroccan fruits and vegetables sector, particularly tomatoes, which depends on a very constraining export system.

The EU says the Commission "has taken very careful note of the concerns expressed by the Moroccan authorities that these changes will negatively impact their fruit and vegetable exports", recalling that "a detailed discussion of those concerns already took place in February, in the Agriculture sub Committee established under the EU Morocco-Association Agreement."

It also "proposed to pursue these discussions, in particular so as to better understand the quantitative basis on which the Moroccan Authorities have estimated that there could be a negative impact."

"The European Commission is strongly committed to its trade relationship with Morocco and to ensuring that any substantiated concerns are fully addressed."