Negotiation of the free trade agreement between Australia and the EU stalls

Australia announced this Monday that negotiations for a FTA with the European Union stagnated due to the controversy surrounding the designations of origin of some products and the entry of Farm products Australians to the European market.

The Australian Trade Minister, Don Farrell, had traveled this weekend to the Japanese city of Osaka, where the G7 Trade Ministers’ meeting is being held, to hold parallel talks with his European counterpart, Valdis Dombrovskis, with the aim of finalize the trade agreement.

“Unfortunately we have not been able to move forward”Farrell said in a statement today, insisting that his job is “achieve the best possible agreement” for the producers, entrepreneurs, workers and consumers of their country.

“Negotiations will continue and I hope that one day we will sign an agreement that benefits both Australia and our European friends.””, remarked the Labor minister without giving more details about the potential dates.

Negotiations for this agreement are long and thorny due to Australia’s demand to continue calling “prosecco” and “feta” to a white wine and a type of white cheese that are produced in the oceanic country, despite the fact that they are protected European designations of origin.

Divergences between Australia and the European Union also focused on the access of Australian agricultural products such as sugar to the European market, which covers more than 445 million potential consumers.

For his part, the Australian Minister of Agriculture, Murray Watt, told Radio National of the Australian public broadcaster ABC today that the European Union has not significantly modified its position and considered that it will take “some time” so that the parties can resume negotiations because the Twenty-seven will hold elections in 2024.

Bilateral trade between Australia and the European Union, the oceanic country’s second trading partner, reached 108.8 billion Australian dollars (US$69.055 million) in 2022, according to official data.

Australia, which has China as its main trading partner, intensified the diversification of its trade to countries like India and blocs like the EU as a result of the problems arising from the bans on its exports imposed by the Asian giant in 2020.

Australia and the European Union began negotiating an FTA in 2018, at the same time as New Zealand and the Twenty-Seven bloc, which finalized the trade pact in July of this year.