On Monday 24 April, European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan called for the UK to remain in the customs union after the country leaves the EU (Brexit), and he derided British Prime Minister Theresa May's project of establishing a post-Brexit trade "empire" through sealing bilateral agreements in all directions by means of compromises on the level of agri-food standards.
"In her statement to Parliament on 17 January, PM May spoke about reaching a completely new customs arrangement [with the EU] and suggested that the UK might become an associate member of the customs union. She also said that the UK did not want to be bound by the EU's common external tariff, which she said are 'elements of the customs union that prevent us from striking our own comprehensive trade agreements with other countries'", Hogan said at a conference organised by the Irish Farmers Association (IFA).
"It is clear from everything that the Prime Minister has said, that the UK government is ambitious and determined to pursue its own international trade agenda, through its membership of the WTO. Indeed, on the day that the UK notified of its intention to leave, the PM said 'we are going to make sure that we can strike trade agreements with countries from outside the European Union'. This aim, based on notions of an Empire 2.0, is somewhat fanciful when you look at the trade-offs the UK would have to submit to in order to do deals around the world", Hogan continued.
"Now that these issues are becoming real, we are seeing the inevitable fault lines over different visions of a UK-US trade agreement. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox is pushing for agriculture to be included in such discussions claiming that Americans have been eating hormone beef and chlorine chicken perfectly safely for years, so what's all the fuss about? As you know, the EU has always been very firm on protecting food standards", he added.
Saying that he "seriously doubted" that British farmers and consumers would accept hormone beef and chlorine chicken on their supermarket shelves, Hogan thought there may yet be "a bloodbath" over these issues. "Meanwhile in the EU we can rest easy in the knowledge that our negotiating weight in trade deals means that our partners rise to our standards, rather than us lowering to theirs", he said.
"In her 29 March statement to the House of Commons, Theresa May went on to refer to such an agreement as one that 'allows for the freest possible trade in goods and services between Britain and the EU's member states'. It is my hope that, over the course of the coming months, the British government will recognise that the best way to maintain the freest possible trade in goods such as agri-food products is to remain in the customs union, and that sense will prevail", Hogan concluded. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)