The Spanish Federation of Fruit and Vegetable Producers and Exporters (FEPEX) approved, at the Assembly they held in Madrid, the opening of an office in Brussels next week.
The CEO of FEPEX, José María Pozancos, explained that this office's goal was to improve dialogue with the European Commission, the European Parliament and representatives of the Member States.
There will be two employees working at the FEPEX's Belgian headquarters, a BA in Political Science and another one in law, who will compile reports for the Federation and attend meetings with EU institutions.
Moreover, he stated that the Assembly had re-elected Jorge Campillo Brotons as president of the entity for the next four years.
Brotons has held this position since December 2006 and is also the chairman of the Federation of Employers of Fruits and Horticultural Products of Alicante (Fexphal) and of Bonnysa Agroalimentaria.
Pozancos said that one of the issues discussed at the Assembly had been the strong increase in Moroccan exports to the European Union (EU) in 2014, which coincided with a slight decrease in shipments from Spain to the rest of the Union.
In his view, this is a worrisome trend because it somehow broke the Spanish Community's growing sales trend, and it is an issue that must be solved.
The Assembly also discussed the need to reform the measures for crisis management, a "priority" for Pozancos, who said this was the year to undertake them because the European Commission intends to review the specific fruit and vegetables regime.
Other aspects of the phytosanitary policy, innovation, reverse trade strategies and Action Plan 2015 were also discussed at the Assembly.
Source: Efeagro