EU FTA horse-trading could relax geographical indications, open borders

Product names such as feta, prosecco and parmesan could be back in play as the Australian government tries to lock down a deal with the EU.

The Albanese government could relax its hard-line stance on geographical indications to land a better deal for Australian farmers and hammer out a free trade deal with the European Union.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt also exclusively told The Weekly Times that the government would consider changing the nation’s migration and visa settings to make it easier for Europeans “to live, study and work in Australia”.

However, he said Europe must in return cede on what has been the biggest stumbling block for Australian negotiators, by increasing its current “poor offering” of European market access for Australian beef, sheep meat, dairy, grains, sugar, wine, and horticulture commodities.

The second-highest hurdle has been “the emotional issue” of geographical indications, with neither side inching ground over the years-long trade talks.

The EU has been pushing for Australian producers to sign-away using names such as parmesan, feta and prosecco, but talks recently broke down after Australia repeatedly said the indicators were not on the table.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Mr Watt yesterday said “we think that there is a way through” the GI impasse just before leaving for Rome to attend the United Nations Food and Agriculture Conference this week.

“Other countries have been able to resolve the GI in various ways, there are options like grandfathering provisions where we can come to an arrangement that protects Australian producers but at the same time be acceptable for the EU,” he said.

He said other options include Australian farmers using concessional labelling, such as parmesan-like, on home-grown products.

On the potential migration and visa changes, Mr Watt said: “They are keen on that and that is something we would consider.”

“But we are not willing to make those kinds of changes if we do not see some change from the EU side when it comes to market access,” he said.

“I think it is possible to reach an agreement that benefits both parties, we want to leave no stone unturned, but we are not there yet.”

Mr Watt will meet with EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski on the UN conference sidelines, after the pair made some progress on the deal in Berlin in January.

He plans to prosecute the case for “a big improvement” in commodity quotas and “remind the EU that there are significant benefits for them” in doing the deal.

These also include increased trade pathways for agricultural and mechanical goods and access to Australia’s stockpile of critical minerals for manufacturing.

European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski. Picture: Henrik MONTGOMERY / AFP

“We can offer them really good preferential access to critical minerals, like we do the US, opening up better access than they currently have, but we are not prepared to do those things if they are not prepared to reciprocate,” Mr Watt said.

Brussels’ most senior negotiator, EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said this week that there was hope for a deal to be done by next month’s NATO summit in Lithuania, according to media reports.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will attend the summit.

The original deadline for the FTA to be signed was mid-July this year, however while talks have been extended Europe will soon enter a year-long election process during which the FTA is unlikely to be finalised.

THE QUOTA SYSTEM

The federal government has said that most aspects of the agreement are in the locker.

However, a major sticking point in market access and annual quota horse-trading has been inconsistencies between free trade deals struck between the EU and Canada, Britain, and the US, and that offered to Australia.

Mr Watt said the proposed cap on Australian imports curtailed flexibility and was “an unreasonable restraint” for exporters.

He revealed that this included the EU wanting to specifically cap quantities of grass-fed versus grain-fed beef and other categories of meat.

The issue for Australia is also bad timing and local politics.

As a major grain and agriculture producer, the Ukraine once exported its products through the Black Sea but that has been restricted since Russia’s invasion last year.

So they have flooded product into neighbouring EU countries, which EU negotiators are understood to have claimed depressed market prices in those countries.

Beef cattle. Picture: Zoe Phillips

European farmers have therefore vowed to oppose the FTA with Australia, claiming it will reduce local production and further hammer producers reeling from the impact of geopolitical tensions.

“The European market is so huge that even if Australia was to get a small slither of the market, that would be very valuable for Australian producers without noticeably impacting European farmers. There is no danger of us swamping the EU market,” Mr Watt said.

“We don’t think that concern is well-grounded.”

Originally published as EU FTA horse-trading could relax geographical indications, open borders