EU-Australia trade deal draws ire of farmers and lawmakers

Copa-Cogeca, the EU’s influential farmers’ lobby, said in a statement on Tuesday that the EU’s concessions to Canberra in the newly signed trade deal with Australia are “unacceptable” as they fail to sufficiently protect European farmers.

“In a post-Mercosur context, the cumulative impact of successive trade agreements makes these concessions unacceptable,” the lobby said, adding: “European farmers cannot continue to absorb the cost of bilateral trade liberalisation without adequate and truly effective safeguards.”