Wednesday 10 April 2024
Time to get back to the negotiating table for EU FTA
Shadow Minister for Trade and Tourism, the Hon Kevin Hogan MP has again called on the Labor government to get AU-EU Free Trade Agreement negotiations back on track with the European Union Commission.
“European Union Commissioner Simson’s remarks at the National Press Club this week that the Australian Government is stalling negotiations are disappointing for Australian exporters.” Mr Hogan said.
“Commissioner Simson spoke of the EU leaderships ‘surprise’ and ‘disappointment’ at Australia’s decision to halt negotiations and noted that all the union’s main political parties are “very supportive” of trade partnerships. The Commissioner also said the EU were still waiting for response to their proposal from Australia.”
Minister Farrell has cited the upcoming European Parliament’s election in June as reason for the delay, however it is the European Commission rather than the Parliament that undertakes trade negotiations, and they retain their full powers until the end of the year.
“Serious questions remain unanswered about what happened in Osaka last year that led to the Minister killing the deal the day before the final round of negotiations were due to take place.”
“The Europeans are saying they were ready to negotiate and there were better offers to be made on the agricultural quotas. So why would the Minister kill the deal without even listening to what these offers were?”
When asked in Senate Estimates in February if labour market testing was one of the things that would have had to go if we got agricultural rights – Minister Farrell admitted “labour market testing would have been one of the issues.”
“We know the Australian union movements position on labour market testing in free trade agreements and we know the current labor government is controlled by their union paymasters.”
“However, an EU-Australia free trade agreement will be worth $40 billion a year in bilateral trade, it’s time to get back to the negotiating table with the European Commission.”
Ends
