Attempts by MEPs to delay the abolition of duty-free sales within the Union beyond the June 1999 deadline appear doomed to fail

Date: 12/06/1997

In Strasbourg, this week, Mary Banotti of the Irish Fine Gael Party and British Socialist Peter Truscott called on the European Commission to reconsider the deadline, arguing that more time was needed to study the impact of a change which they claimed would mean the loss of 140,000 jobs across the Union.

But Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler, speaking on behalf of his internal market colleague Mario Monti, said that the date for abolishing duty-free sales had been known for some time and there were no plans to change it.