Madam, - With reference to Iva Pocock's excellent article on EU sugar reform (The Irish Times, June 21st), the plight of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries which sell their sugar into the EU under preferential quotas should be highlighted.
They stand to lose under the EU proposal for a 39 per cent sugar price cut, just like Irish sugar beet growers. While Irish and other EU sugar producers are to receive 60 per cent compensation for the price cut, a package worth €1.5 billion annually, the EU is offering the ACP countries only €40 million in the first year of reform - even though the EU will save €800 million annually because the recent WTO ruling no longer allows it to subsidise the re-export of the ACP sugar that it imports.
The money saved never went to EU farmers but it will now be almost entirely used to finance their compensation.
We argue that sugar reform is unavoidable but that ACP sugar producers need substantial transitional income assistance.
A discussion board on EU sugar reform has been opened on our website www.tcd.ie/iiis/policycoherence. - Yours, etc,
THOMAS GIBLIN, Institute for International Integration Studies, Trinity College, Dublin 2.