Copa and Cogeca, the apex bodies for European farmers and their co-ops, have expressed “serious concern” over the renewed push to conclude the EU-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
They warn that the agreement risks placing a disproportionate burden on European farmers and agri-co-operatives in key sensitive sectors.
“Key agricultural sectors such as beef, sheep meat, sugar and rice are already under extreme pressure,” said Copa president Massimiliano Giansanti. “Years of rising production costs, geopolitical instability, internal policy adjustments and the cumulative impact of successive trade agreements – most recently Mercosur – will significantly weaken the resilience of these sectors.
“Any further opening of the EU market, even in the form of tariff rate quotas, would only add fuel to the fire, with lasting consequences for production, prices and farm viability across Europe.”
Even marginal increases in market access can significantly destabilise EU markets, the apexes warn, “given the well-recognised vulnerabilities of these sectors”.
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They add: “It must also be recalled that the EU represents a consumer market of around 450 million people, compared to Australia’s domestic market of approximately 28 million. This structural imbalance means that any market opening under the agreement would, by definition, disproportionately benefit Australian exports, while exposing EU farmers to intensified competition in already fragile markets.”
Cogeca president, Lennart Nilsson, added: “How can one not feel that agriculture is once again being treated as the adjustment variable the Commission relies on to secure its trade deals?
EU farmers and co-operatives are expected to deliver on food security, sustainability, climate objectives and rural vitality, while at the same time absorbing the cumulative impact of trade concessions agreed elsewhere. This approach is neither coherent nor sustainable.”
Copa and Cogeca are calling on the European Commission to “fully recognise the sensitivities of these sectors and to ensure that the any EU-Australia agreement delivers a genuinely balanced outcome for agriculture”.
They add: “Without a clear acknowledgement of the cumulative pressures facing EU farmers and strict restraint on market opening for sensitive products, the agreement risks undermining production, investment and the future of farming in Europe.”
