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Abstract
European Union banana policies do not make economic sense, and hence criticism
of these policies is justified. Some facts should, though, be remembered. If the EU
had chosen free trade in bananas when the Single Market was established, certain
producers both inside and outside the EU would have lost income, and it proved
politically impossible to choose direct financial compensation. Also, the quantitative implications of the new EU banana regime may be less than sometimes
assumed, as trade has not been reduced very much. The WTO's role is not to
judge the economic merits of these policies, but their legal justification.