EU and Australian trade negotiators said Friday that “good progress” had been made during talks in Brussels as they seek to conclude a long-desired trade deal.
Negotiations between Brussels and Canberra collapsed in 2023 after five years of painstaking discussions over a wide array of issues, with the terms for beef and lamp a major obstacle.
The EU’s top trade negotiator Maros Sefcovic and agriculture chief Christophe Hansen held talks with Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell in Brussels that began Thursday and continued Friday.
There had been hopes they would reach enough agreement on outstanding issues for EU chief Ursula von der Leyen to head to Australia this month, but that appears to have been pushed back.
“The ministerial level engagement was constructive and positive and allowed the two sides to converge positions on a range of issues. Good progress was achieved in narrowing gaps on a small number of outstanding matters,” a joint statement by the negotiators said, without providing details.
They will now report back to EU and Australian leaders, it added.
So far, the talks have been zeroing in on duty-free quotas for imported Australian beef, which the EU hopes to cap at around 30,000 tonnes per year, while Canberra wants access for 40,000 tonnes.
European farming unions have criticised the renewed push.
“The agreement risks placing a disproportionate burden on European farmers and agri-cooperatives in key sensitive sectors,” the umbrella farm group Copa-Cogeca said this week.
The French meat industry has also warned of risks to the livestock sector.
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