BRUSSELS, Dec 14 (Reuters) – The European Union reached agreement on Monday to put an end to a decades-long trade dispute with Latin American and other smaller producers over tariffs on banana imports, diplomats said.

“Everybody is finally on board and an initialling of the deal is scheduled for Tuesday,” one diplomat with direct knowledge of the negotiations told Reuters.

The deal resolves the world’s longest-running trade dispute, which involves banana exporters in Latin America and other regions challenging the EU’s preferential treatment of producers in the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific region.

The agreement means the European Union will steadily cut tariffs on bananas supplied from Latin America and other smaller producers such as Thailand and the Philippines.

Under the deal, the duties on bananas would fall to $114 a tonne by 2016 or a few years later from $176, with an initial cut to $148.

In return, Latin American banana producing countries are expected to drop challenges to the European Union, the world’s largest trade zone, at the World Trade Organisation.

Poorer ACP growers in mostly former European colonies will get around 200 million euros ($293.3 million) in compensation for the negative effects the pact may have on the preferential treatment given to them by Brussels, diplomats said.

BRUSSELS, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Iceland must wait until March to formally launch negotiations to join the European Union because recommendations on its application have not yet been finalised, diplomats said on Tuesday.

Reykjavik had hoped to get approval from EU leaders at a summit on Thursday to formally launch accession talks with the 27-nation bloc, but a delay in appointing a new European Commission — the executive that steers EU enlargement policy – has stalled the process, the diplomats said.

The new Commission was due to take office on Nov. 1 but was delayed until EU leaders appointed a new EU president and high representative for foreign affairs as part of the Lisbon reform treaty, which came into force on Dec. 1. The new 27-member EU executive is expected to take office on Feb. 1.

“There are three obstacles. The first is that we have to wait for a new European Commission since the current executive cannot take any legally-binding decisions,” one diplomat with knowledge of the talks told Reuters.

“The second problem is that due to the delays in the Commission, its first draft opinion will not be published until Dec. 14, and the third reason is that Germany has not sorted out its constitution in relation to the EU’s Lisbon reform treaty.”

EU Leaders can only make their decision on whether to start formal negotiations with Iceland once the European Commission has made its recommendation.

“The Commission report will be in place for the next EU summit in March and the talks should be launched then, based on what the Commission has indicated so far,” another diplomat said.

BRUSSELS, Dec 4 (Reuters) – A deal to end the world’s longest-running trade dispute over import tariffs on bananas is virtually complete, but a final agreement may not be reached until next week, diplomats involved in the talks said on Friday.

The European Union and Latin America had hoped to wrap up a deal on Friday to end the 16-year-old “banana wars”. An agreement would also need the endorsement of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the United States. [ID:nGEE5B11Z6]

“The deal is all but done. But we still need a few more days to clear up some small technical issues in the legal drafting,” a European diplomat told Reuters.

Latin American diplomats agreed that a deal was days away and that there were no major issues left unresolved.

The pact aims to cut the tariffs paid on bananas from Latin America and shield the European Union from further legal action at the World Trade Organisation, which has condemned the EU’s import regime.

Under the deal, the duties on bananas would fall to $114 a tonne by 2016 or a few years later from $176, with an initial cut to $148.

Poorer ACP growers in mostly former European colonies will get around 200 million euros ($300 million) in compensation for the negative effects the pact may have on the preferential treatment given to them by Brussels, diplomats said.

GENEVA/BRUSSELS, Dec 2 (Reuters) – A deal to end the world’s longest running trade dispute over import tariffs on bananas is expected to be signed on Friday between the European Union and Latin American countries, diplomats involved in the talks said.

The deal to end the 16 year-old “banana wars” — which also includes African Caribbean and Pacific states (ACP) and the United States — will cut the tariff paid on bananas from Latin America and shield the European Union from further legal action at the WTO, which has condemned its import regime.

“Everybody is on board. The last obstacles have been cleared and closure is expected in the next 24 hours allowing for an initialling of the deal on Friday,” a diplomat told Reuters.

The essential element was that the tariff on bananas would fall to $114 a tonne by 2016 from $176, with an initial cut to $148.

Poorer ACP growers in mostly former European colonies will get around 200 billion euros ($301.4 billion) in compensation as part of the pact, diplomats said.

EU Agriculture Commissioner Fischer Boel said earlier on Wednesday agreement had been reached between the two main parties — Latin American producers and less efficient ACP growers which have preferential access to EU markets.

Although the United States does not export bananas, it is a party to the agreement because several big distributors and processors such as Chiquita <CQB.N>, Dole <DOLE.N> and Del Monte <DLM.N> are U.S. corporations. Another big distributor is the Irish company Fyffes <FFY.I>.

BRUSSELS, Nov 27 (Reuters) – European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso unveiled the EU executive’s new line-up on Friday, handing Finn Olli Rehn a key role overseeing monetary affairs as part of efforts to revive the European Union economy.

Rehn takes over from Spaniard Joaquin Almunia, who will become competition commissioner in the 27-country bloc’s executive. France’s Michel Barnier was named internal market commissioner with responsibility for financial services.

The formation of the European Commission is the latest stage in the EU’s efforts to maintain influence on the world stage after the economic crisis.

The 27-person team, which represents almost 500 million people, is likely to take office early next year, and will serve for five years but needs the European Parliament’s approval.

“In five years’ time, I want this Commission to have been instrumental in leading Europe out of the economic crisis towards a competitive economy that provides sustainable growth,” Barroso told a news conference.

The nomination of the Commission, a powerful regulatory body, follows the naming of a president and a new foreign policy chief and ratification of a treaty intended to make EU decision-making smoother.

Almunia, a 61-year-old Socialist, has won a reputation for independence and fiscal prudence as economic and monetary affairs commissioner. Rehn, 47, has overseen the accession of Romania and Bulgaria as EU enlargement commissioner.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union leaders named Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, who is little known outside his own country, as the bloc’s first president on Thursday to lead efforts to make it more influential on the world stage.

They also chose Baroness Catherine Ashton, a Briton little known even in her own country, as EU foreign affairs chief under a deal that kept out more established figures such as Tony Blair, and raised questions about how the bloc plans to lift its profile.

The appointments are intended to bolster the EU’s standing and help it to match the rise of emerging powers such as China following the global economic crisis, but neither Ashton nor Van Rompuy is a familiar figure outside Europe.

“I believe my experience will speak for itself. Am I an ego on legs? No I’m not. Do I want to be seen to be out there saying everything all the time? No I don’t. Judge me on what I do and I think you’ll pleased with the outcome,” Ashton told reporters.

Von Rompuy promised to move “step by step” to help Europe out of “exceptionally difficult times, a period of anxiety, uncertainty and lack of confidence.”

Van Rompuy, 62, and Ashton, 53, are compromise candidates who plan to use quiet diplomacy and consensus. At least initially they will not have the weight in foreign capitals that a better-known figure such as Blair, a former British prime minister, would have had.

Agreement on the positions took weeks, undermining efforts to present the bloc as a united force, partly because Britain had demanded Blair should be president.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – In a surprisingly quick compromise, European Union leaders have named Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton as EU president and foreign policy chief.

Such a deal is a vote for low-key consensus builders over big-name personalities and means that while European decision-making may become more streamlined, the EU will still struggle to punch its weight in international diplomacy.

Van Rompuy, virtually unknown on the world stage, is regarded as a sharp and efficient operator in his home country. He has been prime minister for only a year, but in that time has won high praise for bringing Belgium’s long-divided Flemish and French-speaking communities closer together.

In backing him for president of the EU Council, a move largely driven by France and Germany, EU leaders are asking Van Rompuy, a 62-year-old consummate politician fond of writing Haiku poems, to serve as a business-like chairman of the union.

“It’s not a glamour team,” an EU diplomat said.

He can be expected to run a tight, well-organised agenda, and his behind-the-scenes style should help find consensus among the EU’s 27 sometimes fractious states. But when it comes to representing the EU abroad, he may battle to be noticed.

The choice of Ashton to serve as high representative for foreign affairs is also a nod towards understated efficiency rather than the influence of a high-profile, big-name diplomat.

BRUSSELS, Oct 19 (Reuters) – A European Union investigation has found Sri Lanka in breach of international human rights laws and EU sources said the country is likely to lose concessions worth more than $100 million for its top exports to Europe.

The EU on Monday published the findings of the investigation it launched a year ago into allegations of human rights violations and torture in the 25-year war between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels.

“The report comes to the conclusion that Sri Lanka is in breach of its commitments. We will now prepare for a legal proposal to remove the additional trade preferences which may enter into force mid-next year,” a spokesman for the EU’s executive Commission said.

EU sources said the report showed evidence of police violence, torture and breaches of labour laws, notably the use of underage children.

“The evidence is very clear that Sri Lanka does not fulfil the basic human rights conditions of GSP Plus,” one EU source said, in reference to a system of preferential tariffs – sometimes as low as zero — for the world’s poorest countries.

Brussels has consistently warned Sri Lanka that it must meet 27 international human rights conventions to retain its Generalised System of Preference Plus trade scheme. Suspending the preferential tariffs would hit Sri Lanka’s textile industry hard and many fear big job cuts as a result.

In 2008, the European Union was Sri Lanka’s largest export market, accounting for 36 percent of all exports, followed by the United States with 24 percent. Garments earned the country a record $3.47 billion from EU markets and were its top source of foreign exchange, followed by remittances of $3 billion and tea exports of $1.2 billion.