Trade Minister fails to secure EU deal despite progress
Australia’s major free trade deal with the European Union is yet to be finalised, despite Trade Minister Don Farrell’s latest mission to Brussels to get the agreement across the line.
An agreement with the 27-member bloc has been in the works since 2018.
Senator Farrell said on Sunday an agreement is “closer than we have been in 25 years”, just hours after returning from Europe where he met the EU’s trade and agriculture commissioners.
“Unfortunately I can’t say that we have an agreement yet, but we have significantly reduced the issues between us,” Senator Farrell told Sky News Sunday Agenda.
“There’s still more work to be done.”
Senator Farrell said he was determined to get the deal done.
“If getting a free-trade agreement with Europe had been easy, somebody else would have done it,” he said.
“But I’m determined that we demonstrate to the rest of the world that those countries that believe in free and fair trade can reach agreements.”
Senator Farrell got close in early 2023 but talks collapsed, with Brussels pushing back on taking more Australian meat and dairy while demanding Australia respect restrictions imposed by geographical indicators – product names that relate to specific regions, such as feta or prosecco.
European producers claim these names exclusively because of their regional significance.
Senator Farrell walked out on representatives who had flown to Osaka, Japan, to meet him.
But sources have said that his EU counterpart Maros Sefcovic has been keen to clinch a deal and both men have a strong rapport.
Locking in a trade agreement would give Australian exporters tariff-free access to the EU’s 450 million high-income consumers and vice versa, letting consumers buy European products cheaper.
It could bump Australia’s GDP by up to $7.4bn annually by 2030, with longer-term modelling suggesting an increase of up to 0.6 per cent in real GDP.
NewsWire understands she will head to Australia after wrapping up at the Munich Security Conference scheduled for February 13-15.
It had been expected European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen would visit Australia later this month as Canberra and Brussels try to close an elusive free-trade deal.
NewsWire understands she was due to head to Australia after wrapping up at the Munich Security Conference scheduled for February this weekend.
