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The European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker delivered his annual state of the union address to MEPs in Strasbourg this week.
Unlike last year when the EU institutions were reeling from the decision of the UK to leave the EU, this year the message was clearly about moving on. There was just the briefest of references to the sorrow of losing the UK as a member.
Another notable difference between this year and last year was that this time there was no specific reference to farmers and agriculture. Instead, the speech concentrated on the big picture of EU development in the years ahead.
However, while agriculture didn’t feature specifically, trade discussions did, and these of course have a huge impact on Irish and EU farmers, particularly in the beef and sheep meat sectors.
The president welcomed that the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Europe and Canada would take effect provisionally from 21 September and expressed the view that there was a “good chance” that a deal would be concluded with Mexico and South American countries (Mercosur) by the end of the year.
Momentum building
It is clear that momentum is building for the conclusion of Mercosur and we can expect that the EU will be tabling an offer on the sensitive products of ethanol and beef very soon.
A further round of discussions will begin on 2 October in Brazil.
Meat Industry Ireland (MII), the trade association that represents the meat factories, is strongly opposed to any further access for Mercosur countries to the EU market.
Mercosur has the potential to cause serious disruption to the EU beef market
In a statement this week, it said: "while the outcome of Brexit is still uncertain, it [Mercosur] has the potential to cause serious disruption to the EU beef market, sending the EU-27 market into massive beef surplus.
"A Mercosur deal that would allow any additional volume of concessionary beef imports on to the EU market must be avoided.” An IFA delegation was also in Brussels this week for discussions on the possibility of this deal concluding.
Australia and New Zealand
On other trade issues, the Commission president also announced that discussions with Australia and New Zealand are about to commence. These will present further challenges to agriculture here, particularly beef and sheepmeat.
Between them, Australia and New Zealand account for over two-thirds of the sheepmeat exported globally, and New Zealand enjoys access for 230,000t, largely derived from the UK joining the EU in 1973.
With the UK about to leave the EU, discussions on what portion of this contract will be retained by the EU and how much will leave with the UK will be interesting.
Australia is also consistently in the top four beef-exporting countries in the world, although its volumes have been lower in recent years due to drought.
An upgraded deal with Mexico is also expected to be concluded this year, though it is not a significant exporter of beef beyond the USA.
TTIP stalled
Meanwhile, Junker stated the obvious on TTIP, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the European Union and the US, saying that talks have effectively stopped.
He went further and added that “the EU needed to clarify if there is sufficient level of shared ambition and common ground before deciding whether and how to proceed with new negotiations.”
This suggests there will be no rush to re-engage with the USA on trade talks as it was evident they were struggling long before President Trump was elected.
EU priorities
A number of priorities were highlighted including one on the need to defend EU companies and citizens against unfair competition and unfair trade practices.
A consultation is currently under way on giving effect to the findings of the EU markets taskforce report published last year.
Farmers will be following this with interest and hoping that Commissioner Hogan will bring forward legislation to address the imbalance in the supply chain next year.
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