Oxfam accuses Europe of protectionism

Date: 11/04/02

By David Cronin

THE EU practices protectionism even as it preaches free market principles, argue the authors of a new study by anti-poverty lobby Oxfam.

Published today (11 April), the paper says the EU scores higher than the US, Japan and Canada in an Oxfam-devised 'double standards index'.

This ranks the four richest economies on such factors as the tariffs they impose on goods from developing countries and the level of subsidies they devote to their own producers.

It finds:

• The EU applied the highest 'tariff peak' on produce from the world's poorest countries in 1999 (252% of import price for meat products, compared to the 170% on raw cane sugar imports applied by Japan and the US's 121% groundnut tariff);
• More than 140 'anti-dumping' cases were launched by the EU against developing countries in 1995-2000 - the corresponding figures for the US, Canada and Japan were 89, 22 and zero;
• Subsidies accounted for 40% of the EU's farm income in 1998-2000; only Japan registered a higher level (63%).

Oxfam campaigner Penny Fowler criticised the Union's high tariffs on processed foods. About 30% of all peak tariffs enforced by the Union are designed to protect its food industry.

'Escalating tariffs that rise with the level of processing undergone are especially damaging,' she said. 'They act as a disincentive to investment aimed at adding value locally, while at the same time discouraging diversification.

'This leaves many developing countries locked into volatile primary commodity markets, characterised by low and deteriorating world prices.'

The EU practices protectionism even as it preaches free market principles, argue the authors of a new study by Oxfam, published on 11 April 2002.

http://www.oxfam.org/ http://www.oxfam.org/

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