BRUSSELS, CMC – Europe is pressing ahead with implementation of its controversial banana deal reached with Latin American countries and the United States last December, despite fears expressed by African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states that it could very well trigger the collapse of their industry.
On Wednesday, the European Commission announced that it had formally adopted the deal which will now go forward to the EU’s decision-making bodies – the Council and the European Parliament – for ratification.
It effectively brings to an end the 15-year banana dispute between Europe and America over liberalisation of the banana trade.
Producing common products for a foreign & far away land never benefits a nation. This puts the producers on the periphery; and thereby spending more effort than the small gain is worth – Another form of slavery!
Likely the greatest treatise on this topic was specifically written about Dominica!
“Centering the Periphery – Chaos, Order and the Ethnohistory of Dominica”, by Patrick Baker
By “serving” some far off center land puts Dominica on the periphery. And it creates a local economic system that is clearly far-from-equilibrium – It is highly entropic as the cost in labor and materials far exceeds any long term benefit.
In effect, all the peasant nations are forced into an overly-leveraged position to the full benefit of the far-away consumer. Just consider the price received for exported bananas and compare it to the cost of importing say, “meat”. Hardly fair!
And the story goes on. French have us on black list.
We have no choice now but to send them ganja, legal or not.
LOL…then they’ll be all mellow and everything will be alright.