Officials from three Caribbean islands called on the European Union on Wednesday to increase its compensation for losses from EU subsidy cuts in the region's sugar industry, AP reported Government officials from St. Kitts and Nevis, Guyana and Jamaica met European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and asked for more yearly aid in 2007-2012 to help Caribbean sugar producers cope with the EU's 36-percent cut in sugar subsidies imposed in January. The EU has earmarked ¤40 million (US$47 million) in aid for 2006, an amount St. Kitts Prime Minister Denzil Douglas called "paltry." "There is a grave concern in the Caribbean region. We need to get a fair deal," said Douglas, whose country was forced to close its sugar industry in July, after the price cuts were announced. The EU executive commission in December proposed offering ¤190 million (US$223 million) a year to Caribbean producers until 2013. EU member states have since suggested the fund start at ¤130 million (US$154 million) in 2007 and peak at ¤170 million (US$202 million) in 2013. The final amount will depend on the EU's 2007-2013 budget, which has yet to be agreed. EU farmers who face the same subsidy cuts were to be compensated US$7.9 billion (¤6.6 billion). The EU for years gave its former colonies in the Caribbean, Africa and the Pacific preferential access to its markets and paid high prices to encourage development. The World Trade Organization said the regime was unfair and ordered the bloc to reduce quotas and prices for sugar, as well as for bananas and cotton. Douglas, St. Kitts and Nevis Foreign Minister Timothy Harris, Guyana Foreign Trade Minister Clement Rohee, who represents the 15-member Caribbean Community on sugar issues, and officials from Jamaica will travel to Finland on Thursday, where they will meet Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen. Finland will take over the rotating EU presidency in the second half of the year. Douglas said Caribbean sugar producers would like to receive some of the money from the proposed EU fund upfront, rather than wait for installments to be paid over six years. He said he has discussed the issue with Barroso and Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, whose country holds the EU presidency until June, but has not received any assurances. "If this is not revisited, it could lead to social upheavals, economic instability and political unrest," said Douglas, adding that closing the sugar industry meant 9 percent of the country's work force would lose their jobs. "We had to borrow ¤10 million just to compensate our people," he said. The EU is unlikely to pay a full ¤190 million proposed by the commission as its long-term budget will be less than originally proposed.
