The relationship between, on the one hand, agriculture and food production and, on the other, trade, is full of contradictions. The sector is perceived as being prone to discord and sometimes reluctant to trade agreements that would appear to benefit other industries. Yet, the agri-food industry is one of the main contributors to the European Union’s balance of trade.
News have circulated that the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is reaching the final legs of negotiation. The UK would have offered full free access to its market, including in beef and sheep, with a phasing-out of quotas and tariffs for these two sectors in 15 years. It is also rumoured that the UK would […]
The Commission has just published a Communication on the EU Trade Policy Review. The fundamental approach to trade issues is kept unchanged. The key word is openness: “The EU is built on openness, both internally and externally. It is the biggest exporter and importer of goods and services worldwide.” The Covid crisis talk on relocalisation […]
The negotiation of a post- Brexit Trade Agreement with the UK has finally been concluded at the eleventh hour, after years of up and downs. Farm Europe has from the outset closely analysed the consequences of Brexit, and raised the attention of the sector and decision-makers to its large impact. Our assessment is clear: the […]
The impact of the Covid-19 crisis is still unfolding but one lesson can already be learned – we need food security. In some strategically important sectors the lack of domestic availabilities became quite acute, but fortunately agriculture in the EU assured its fundamental role of feeding its citizens. It did not pass unnoticed that […]
THE HEAVILY IMPACTED AGRICULTURE SECTOR SHOULD GET MUCH NEEDED HELP The US retaliation list has been published, and as unfortunately I had anticipated it is loaded against EU agriculture exports to the US. Although the dispute is on aircraft subsidies, agriculture leads the list of the products targeted, with roughly the double of the trade […]
We are now barely 3 weeks before the (latest) deadline for Brexit, which should concentrate minds, in particular of those with political responsibilities, on how best to unlock a reasonable solution. The new element is the latest UK proposal, which departs from the previous signed but never approved withdrawal agreement. The new proposal accepts an […]