Meeting in Brussels on Tuesday 22 May, the EU trade ministers authorised the European Commission to open talks for free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand on the basis of directives presented by the Commission in September 2017 and adopted by the Council on Monday.
European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström is to visit Canberra and Wellington in June in order to launch the two negotiation processes officially. An initial round of talks on the technical level will take place in Brussels in July for each of these negotiations.
These agreements will mainly aim at further reducing the barriers to trade between the European market and Australian and New Zealand markets, at removing customs duties on goods and at improving access to services and public procurement in Australia and New Zealand.
The sectors likely to benefit from the future agreements are automotive equipment, machine tools, chemicals, processed agri-food products and services.
"We expect a 30% rise in EU exports to these two countries in the long term", Bulgaria's Economy Minister and Council Chair, Emil Karanikolov, stated.
The mandates particularly highlight the protection of vulnerable sectors such as agriculture, which will benefit from specific treatment. The Commission has given assurances that the sensitive nature of some products (milk, beef and sheep meat) will be taken in to account appropriately.
Furthermore, the mandates provide a modern framework on the highest standards on the protection of workers, the environment and consumers, and they advocate ambitious arrangements on the climate in connection with the international Climate Agreement of 2015.
The scope of application of these agreements does not include the protection of investments, but the EU can decide to negotiate separate agreements on this with Australia and New Zealand alongside the free trade agreements.
"These agreements will offer EU businesses a valuable entry point in the Asia-Pacific region, putting European companies on an equal footing with those of other countries in the region that have signed the Transpacific Partnership Agreement", Malmström stated.
The EU is Australia's third biggest trading partner. In 2017, bilateral trade exceeded €47.7 billion, with a surplus of €21 billion in the EU's favour. The EU mainly exports manufactured goods to Australia, and primarily imports mining and agricultural products. In 2016, the EU provided Australia with trade services of nearly €20 billion and held over €160 billion in direct investment.
With bilateral trade of over €8.7 billion in 2017 (and a surplus of €1.9 billion in its favour), the EU is New Zealand's second biggest trading partner, after Australia. The EU mainly exports manufactured and industrial products, and primarily imports agricultural products. It held nearly €10 billion in investments in 2016. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)