A free trade agreement with the EU will take “quite some time”, the Australian government says, after negotiations on the weekend failed to reach an agreement. Federal trade minister Don Farrell said he had gone in with the intention of finalising the deal, but the EU had not made satisfactory concessions on what it offered three months ago.
“Since I became trade minister, I have been to Europe three times to progress a deal that benefits Australia’s national interest,” Farrell said.
On ABC Radio National’s Breakfast program this morning (30 October), agriculture minister Murray Watt said the EU’s offer in Osaka was not significantly better than the last round of negotiations three months ago.
“And there’s a reason that no government has been able to reach an agreement with the EU up until now. These negotiations have been going on for many years. The EU takes a very strong stand. It's a very protectionist market when it comes to agriculture, and they weren’t prepared to budge enough for it to be in our interests,” Watt said.
There were business sectors concerned with aspects of the EU’s position, particularly geographical indicators, saying Australian products using GI words (e.g., feta, prosecco, parmesan) would not be allowed.
The Australian Food & Grocery Council CEO Tanya Barden said many of the GI words were common terms for food products and manufacturers in Australia, and that if the FTA gave that allowance to the EU, it would cripple their capacity to access the European market.
The wine industry raised similar concerns, with Australian Grape & Wine CEO Lee McLean saying maintaining the ability to use grape variety names was an essential element of rules-based trade and investment in the sector.
Watt said he thinks it will be “quite some time” before a deal is struck, particularly with the EU heading into its election cycle next year.
“It’s always much harder for countries and regions to negotiate these sorts of trade agreements on the eve of elections. So, I think it will be quite some time before any Australian Government or any EU leadership is able to negotiate a deal. And that’s a bit of a shame for both Australia and the EU.
“We’ve made clear to them that we think it’s unlikely to occur within this current term of the Australian Parliament as well. So, it could be some time,” he said.
Last week, AMIC CEO Patrick Hutchinson said if the FTA didn’t resolve current restrictive quotas and high tariffs, then the government should not sign the deal.
“Australia’s negotiators have worked hard for years to get to this point on the promise that ‘sensitive’ products such as meat will be negotiated in good faith at the 11th hour. Now we are there, this is a once in a generation opportunity that is too important to get wrong.
“The EU look set to get almost all their asks outlined at the start of the FTA, but it’s hard to see what’s being offered to Australia in return is fair, particularly for agriculture,” Hutchinson said.
Watt said, “Don went to Osaka looking to do an agreement and make an agreement, but unfortunately, we just didn't get the movement on the EU side that was required for this deal to be in Australia’s national interest.”
In regard to the review on China’s tariffs on Australian wine, Watt said the government had managed to get China to lift about $18 billion in trade impediments in more than 100 cases including barley, horticulture, cotton, and hay, but conceded some remain, including lobster, some beef and sheep, and abattoirs.
