The European Parliament approved two agreements on Tuesday 12 September seeking to boost trade in agricultural products between the EU and Iceland.
Under the terms of an agreement on additional trade preferences for agricultural products, passed by 637 votes to 8, with 46 abstentions, almost 90% of EU agricultural products will have duty-free access to the Icelandic market. The EU will enjoy increased quotas, in particular, for cheese, beef, pig meat and poultry, and Iceland will gain additional access to the market for its skyr (a special dairy product) exports. Effectively all trade in processed agricultural products, with the exception of fermented milk products, will become duty free.
“The final aim of these agreements is also to increase the transparency for the consumers”, stated Parliament rapporteur for the two agreements David Borrelli (EFDD, Italy).
The EU and Iceland are parties to the agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA Agreement), which provides for free movement of goods, with the exception of agricultural and fisheries products.
Article 19 stipulates that, every two years, the parties review the conditions of trade in agricultural products and decide on the further reduction of any type of barriers.
In 2015, EU agricultural exports to Iceland were worth €290 million, while the value of imports from Iceland was €44 million.
The main EU export products are fruit, vegetables and cereals. Imports from Iceland are chiefly seaweed and algae, sheep meat, live horses and fur skins. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)