(adds European Commission quote in para 3) By Ingrid Melander BRUSSELS, May 15 (Reuters) - European Union countries agreed on Tuesday to open up their wealthy markets fully to imports from former colonies with phased-in access for rice and sugar, but put off a decision on when to open the banana market. The European Commission said the move would help reach new trade deals with nearly 80 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to replace current preferential arrangements that have been struck down by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). "(We) are sending a very positive signal to our ACP partners at this very crucial phase of the negotiations," EU Commissioner Olli Rehn told a news conference. The current deals expire at the end of this year and talks have made little progress so far. "After certain transitional periods with special treatment for a number of highly sensitive products, all ACP states shall be granted full duty-free and quota-free market access," EU development ministers said in a statement after a meeting. Ministers decided to classify rice and sugar as highly sensitive products and to introduce a transition period before opening access to these EU markets. But they disagreed over bananas, with producers France and Spain pushing for offering only phased-in access. Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden pushed for a full opening of the market as soon as possible, diplomats said. "The European Commission will make an evaluation and then later on recommend, according to developments, whether banana is a sensitive product or not," one EU diplomat said, quoting disputes at the WTO and recent reform of the EU's banana policy. The EU and the ACP countries will meet on May 25 in Brussels for negotiations on the new trade deals. Some ACP states, concerned about the extent to which the EU wants them to open up their economies to European imports, have said it would be hard for them to sign a deal in time. The EU relies on local growers for some 20 percent of its bananas, or some 800,000 tonnes a year. Nearly all this comes from Spain's Canary Islands and French overseas territories of Martinique and Guadeloupe. BANANA IMPORTS The EU has also come under pressure to allow in more bananas from non-ACP countries, such as Ecuador and Colombia. The two Latin American states have challenged the EU's single import tariff of 176 euros per tonne for bananas -- in force from January 2006 -- at the WTO, saying it is too high and discriminates against Latin American exporters and producers. Bananas are a sensitive issue for the EU, which gives prefernential access to bananas from ACP producer countries. ACP bananas enter the EU's lucrative markets free of duty, inside an annual quota of 775,000 tonnes, although anything shipped above that volume attracts the standard 176-euro duty. The new tariff system was the deal struck at the WTO to end the 1990s "banana wars", which the EU lost to the United States and Ecuador, the world's largest banana exporter. The single tariff replaces a complex arrangement of duties and quotas. In April, France's agriculture minister said the proposed ACP trade deals could weaken the EU's negotiating position in the WTO and also in the Ecuador and Colombia trade challenges. Most ACP exports already enter the EU tariff-free but the European Commission has said the new offer will make a difference for the roughly 30 most developed ACP countries which currently pay tariffs on fruit, vegetables, cereals and beef. The EU is asking ACP countries in the trade talks to open their own markets to EU exports by dismantling their tariffs and quotas progressively, with transition periods of up to 25 years. The EU pledged over 22 billion euros ($29.8 billion) for ACP states in 2008-2013 including 2 billion euros a year from 2010 in aid-for-trade to help them adapt to opening their markets. African countries, backed by aid agencies, have said they want more to compensate for the loss of tariff revenues and to help their products meet EU standards. "Aid must not be used as the stick to beat developing countries into signing free trade deals," campaign group Oxfam said in a statement, urging the EU to give more. "Otherwise, Africa may well end up worse off than it is already." (additional reporting by Jeremy Smith)
