EU farmers may fight a free-trade agreement with Australia

European Union farmers appear ready to fight an EU-Australia free trade agreement, claiming a further influx of foreign products will hammer local growers.

European farmers have vowed to oppose a European Union-Australia free trade agreement, claiming it will shrink markets, reduce local production and further hammer producers reeling from a barrage of high input costs and the impact of geopolitical tensions.

The warning shot was fired by the Copa Cogeca – the EU’s peak association of farmers and agri-cooperatives – with the next negotiating round on a deal that has been worked on since 2018 just days away.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has indicated that the EU deal was now firmly in the headlights, with the United Kingdom free trade deal set to begin on May 31 and prior to meeting EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen last week.

“We’re continuing to work very hard because we want that (EU free trade agreement) to come into effect as soon as possible as well. It’s not as advanced, of course, as the UK one was,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese outside Number 10 Downing Street in London, on May 5, 2023 following a meeting with Britain's Prime Minister. Picture: Daniel Leal/AFP

However, Copa Cogeca said in a statement that the UK-Australia bilateral deal only further exposed European producers in ‘sensitive sectors’, such as sugar, beef and sheep meat, to a doubling of volumes effectively entering the EU-UK market following Brexit and the ambitious trade agendas of the UK and EU.

It said the deal would cause market instability and loss of competitiveness and would “directly impact rural economies and their social fabric”.

“Hence, as a general principle neither of these sensitive sectors can accept more concessions given to third-country partners in the context of trade negotiations,” it said.

“Furthermore, with the additional sustainability requirements being placed on our farmers and agri-cooperatives with the EU’s Green Deal agenda, ensuring reciprocity of norms as well as a level playing field is necessary.

“It is key that the agreement with Australia considers the cumulative impact.”

New EU legislation could make the transition harder, with laws recently passed preventing the import of goods linked to deforestation. It means Australian producers, particularly livestock farmers, must prove they did not destroy forests to produce their products.

The European parliament also recently approved a new set of regulations seeking to strengthen the EU’s emissions trading system.

Export shipping costs will increase under the new rules with shipowners needing to pay an emissions allowance for voyages that started outside the EU.