The European Commission has just concluded a week of negotiations with Australia – from 6 to 10 February – for their future Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Between now and the next round of negotiations in April, which will be held on the fifteenth, both sides agreed to keep in touch and to continue working in the form of “inter-sessional” exchanges.
The EU still hopes to conclude the negotiations by the summer, but this is likely to require more than one negotiating session to be held with several chapters remaining open.
The 14th session concluded negotiations on the following chapters of the agreement: maritime services, telecommunication services and competition. Negotiators also discussed investment, services and public procurement.
The issues of trade and sustainable development as well as the import and export volumes of agricultural products are still open and are particularly sensitive. The EU is hoping to secure a deal that is favourable to its farmers, including full liberalisation of cheese exports to Australia, but would like to impose tariff quotas on imports of some products such as beef. The Australians, for their part, are waiting for favourable concessions in order to be able to widely export these products. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)