Australian producers to keep prosecco, feta and parmesan as European Union trade deal doomed
Australian producers to keep prosecco, feta and parmesan as European Union trade deal doomed
A massive trade deal with the European Union appears all but doomed after "end game" negotiations between the two sides collapsed before they even began.
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I frankly don't care whether they rename drinks and cheeses because Europeans hate that their stuff is inferior to local products. Well, except Feta - the Greek stuff is amazing.
In general, we'll happily keep buying the same brands we already buy and it'll mean diddly squat for sales of imports.
I'm not sure what the real sticking point of a trade deal is, it probably has something to do with politics. I'm not even sure why we want a trade deal - the EU is very far away, and if we're talking food, that's a lot of transport carbon to offset in either direction.
What products are the sides really wanting to trade? Are they after our dirt?
I also noticed the article seemed a little vague regarding ideal goals of an FTA between Australia and EU.
Seems like the EU mostly wanted Australia to agree to their geographical indicator rules (e.g. not allowed to use feta, Prosecco etc names) and for Australia to agree to much more ambitious climate action and sustainability targets.
So that kind of explains why they aren't too fussed about reaching an agreement with Australia (plus Australia upset France by withdrawing from its submarine deal the way it did), whereas Australia had a lot more to gain.
- Reducing or eliminating the current excise levels (7-12%) across industrial goods,
- increasing or eliminating altogether the allowed currently very restrictive quotas of agricultural goods that can be exported to EU, and
- building towards mutual recognition of professional licensing and registration, so workers can more easily move between EU and Australia.
But the EU being almost half a billion people vs our 26 million, we were never going to have very effective leverage I think.
(This link had better details https://www.claytonutz.com/knowledge/2022/july/free-trade-agreement-between-australia-and-the-european-union-back-on-the-table-with-some-caveats)
and for Australia to agree to much more ambitious climate action and sustainability targets.
Money talks. Maybe Albo will get serious about the climate now. Pissing in the pool is generally frowned upon, especially when the grown ups do it.
Well, except Feta - the Greek stuff is amazing.
You can buy Australian made "Greek style" Feta. Try this one: https://www.mungallicreekdairy.com.au/products/organic-fetta-in-brine/
Oh I know. We don't have that particular brand, but we have similar fetta of great calibre. My point was more that the locally produced fetta isn't superior than the Greek stuff. The same goes for Parmesan: some of the imported parmesan holds its own against Australian-made cheeses.
But I've never had a European prosecco that was as good as locally-produced product.
The brand I linked is sold nationwide - have you tried it? I don't think there's any other dairy like it in the world.
The cows are 100% grass fed, and the grass is incredible. The soil on those farms was built up by being rainforest for over a hundred million years - unfortunately the land was cleared before it could be protected under Unesco World Heritage laws, and the paddocks get rain almost daily. Sometimes they are literally in the clouds.
They do a decent job at the factory as well, but mostly it's the quality of the milk that makes it so premium.
It sometimes feels like we are another country, but I promise that WA is still a part of Australia, and their own website says "no results found" when searching for a place to buy the Feta here.
What products are the sides really wanting to trade? Are they after our dirt?
Seems so. I found this article from DFAT much more informative: https://www.dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/negotiations/aeufta/australia-european-union-fta-fact-sheet