1. European Livestock and Meat Trades Union – UECBV
State of Play in Trade Negotiations
Jean-Luc Mériaux
UECBV
DMIA AGM
The Hague, The Netherlands, 2 November 2018

2. Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI
EU trade performance
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

4. Trade as a Political Priority
“Commission General Objective 6: A balanced and progressive trade policy to harness globalisation“
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

5. A comparison with the US
Region
US FTAs
EU FTAs
North America
Canada, Mexico
Central America
CAFTA-DR, Panama
CAAA, CARIFORUM
South America
Chile, Peru, Colombia
Chile, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador
Asia
South Korea, Singapore
South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam
Middle East and North Africa
Morocco, Israel, Oman, Bahrein
Morocco, Israel, Palestine, Tunisia, Lebanon, Jordan
Sub-Saharan Africa
5 EPAs with 13 States
Pacific
Australia
EPA Fiji, PNG
Europe
Norway, Switzerland, Eastern European and Balkan countries
Total
14 FTAs
37 FTAs
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

6. The EU and Free Trade Agreements: the latest
Canada (CETA): provisional application
Ukraine: provisional application (part of association agreement)
Japan: negotiations concluded
Mexico (modernisation): “agreement in principle”
India, Indonesia, Malaysia: under negotiations
ANDEAN: provisional application
Singapore & Vietnam: negotiations concluded, not yet in force
SADC: in force
(Economic Partnership Agreement)
Mercosur: advanced stage of negotiations
Australia & New Zealand: under negotiations
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

7. Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI
Japan
The text of the agreement was concluded on 8 December 2017.
On 17 July 2018, the EU and Japan signed the Economic Partnership Agreement at the EU-Japan summit in Tokyo.
The Commission aims for the entry into force of the agreement before the end of its mandate in 2019.
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

8. Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI
Vietnam
The European Commission adopted the EU-Vietnam trade and investment agreements (the FTA and a separate Investment Protection Agreement (IPA) on 17th October 2018
The texts are currently being translated into EU languages and Vietnamese and are expected to be ready in November 2018.
The FTA and IPA will then be approved by the Commission and submitted as a package to the Council before the end of 2018.
The Council and Parliament will discuss the text, which means that adoption and entry into force of the FTA may have to wait until autumn 2019.
The IPA will take longer due to the requirement for Member State ratification.
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

9. Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI
Singapore
On 18 April 2018, the Commission presented to the Council the EU-Singapore Trade Agreement and the EU-Singapore Investment Protection Agreement (IPA).
The Council adopted and signed the agreements on 19 October 2018.
The Parliament has to ratify the agreements and then the Council will proceed with the conclusion of the agreement. The FTA requires only the EU adoption procedure to enter into force. The EU-Singapore Investment Protection Agreement must be ratified by both the EU and by Member States.
The Commission would like the Trade Agreement to come into effect before the end of its mandate in 2019.
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

10. Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI
Mexico
The EU and Mexico reached an “agreement in principle” on 21 April The new agreement will replace a previous agreement between the EU and Mexico from 2000.
The EU and Mexico fixed the technical details in October 2018.
It is difficult that EU adoption could be completed before the EU Parliament’s elections in May 2019.
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

11. Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI
Chile
EU-Chile relations are currently governed by the 2002 EU-Chile Association Agreement (AA) which covers political dialogue, cooperation as well as a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA). The first round of negotiations to modernise the AA took place on 16 November 2017
The third negotiation round took place in Brussels at the end of May 2018
On June 2018, the EU published new texts to be discussed with Chile.
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

12. Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI
Mercosur
Although progress on several chapters was made during the meetings negotiators held in November and December 2017, the EU and Mercosur failed to conclude a political agreement at the end of 2017 as originally expected.
Three negotiating rounds in February-March, June and July 2018 have not allowed negotiators to make enough progress.
At the most recent negotiating round held in Montevideo, Uruguay, at mid-September 2018, only limited progress was achieved.
Impact of the Presidential election in Brazil?
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

13. Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI
FTAs in 2018 and 2019
Japan concluded
Mexico concluded
Norway concluded
Mercosur ongoing!
China GI Agreement in final stages
Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Chile moving forward
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

14. Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI
EU trade negotiations
offensive
 defensive
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

15. Offensive and defensive interests
Dairy, wines and spirit, GIs, processed agricultural products
Beef, pork, poultry, rice, sugar TRQs, lengthy phase-in
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

16. Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI
Relation with the USA
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

17. Relation with the USA Trump called the EU Americas biggest foe
Trump tweeted before
the Juncker meeting
Trump tweeted just after
@realDonaldTrump
“Tariffs are the Greatest“
“We have come to a very strong understanding and are all believers in no tariffs, no barriers and no subsidies“
“The EU is going to start to buy a lot more soy beans – they are a tremendous market…..“
“It‘s freezing and snowing in New York – we need global warming…“
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

18. EU/US – HQB TRQ
Review of the functioning of the existing quota to import hormone-free beef into the EU.
Aims: two sub-quotas
USA country specific sub-quota
Erga Omnes sub-quota
Issues for the negotiation with USA
starting quantities
ending quantities
transitional period and length
Procedure
Formal negotiation with the United States (1st Round: last week; Next Round: next week)
consultation with the other substantial suppliers (Australia/Uruguay+Argentina?)
EU Commission proposal to the EU Council and EP
Council decision and EP consent (Q1 in 2019)

19. Brexit/TRQs apportionment /Principle
Objective: respecting actual trade flows through observed usage
Consistent: in line with EU practice in WTO for enlargement, using most recent representative three-year period
Unbiased: best reflects the situation before direct or indirect effects of the UK withdrawal
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

20. Brexit/TRQs apportionment – robust data sources
The goal of the exercise is to reflect actual trade flows as accurately as possible
For First Come First Served administered TRQs the usage is based on consolidated customs data submitted by the MS
For License managed TRQs the consolidated licensing database is used
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

21. Brexit/TRQs apportionment (a)

22. Brexit/TRQs apportionment (b)

23. Brexit/TRQs apportionment (c)

24. Brexit/TRQs apportionment/Procedure
EU Process
EU will engage in negotiations with WTO partners for each of these tariff rate quotas
EU will be able to proceed unilaterally to dividing up the tariff rate quotas for the period between the UK's withdrawal from the EU and the conclusion of a final agreement within the WTO. This will mean:
EP and Council Regulation on the apportionment of tariff rate quotas from 30 March 2019 onwards
EU Commission implemented regulation on the quantitative references (from 30 March 2019) and guarantees and validity of licences issued by UK before 30/03/2019
No impact (status quo) during the transitional period in case of EU/UK agreement on the withdrawal  
 UK Process
UK notified its draft schedule of commitments to WTO members – including TRQs as agreed with the EU Commission
UK schedules replicate the EU schedules to the point that tariffs are in €
For both WTO processes: lengthy procedure

25. Brexit/TRQs apportionment – Implementation
Scope
Implement the apportionment in COM(2018)312 final
Structure of the working document:
Basic legal provisions in the main text
New quantities for EU-27 in Annex
- Annex I: TRQs managed by simultaneous examination with licences
- Annex II: TRQs managed by FCFS
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

26. Brexit/TRQs apportionment – Implementation
For the year 2019 the apportionment made on the basis of quantities available to licence applicants on 30 March 2019.
Import licences issued by UK agency; validity date: 29th March
01 Jan - 29 Mar
30 Mar - 31 Dec
EU-28 tot usage: 28 tons
EU-27 available quantity = (200-28)*75% = 129 tons
UK available quantity = (200-28)*25% = 43 tons
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

27. Tariff Rate Quotas Administration
Principles
Review of the joint AVEC/COPA-COGECA/UECBV strategy on poultry meat TRQs
TRQs should benefit the economic actors
Not an administrative burdensome system
A flexible system, fit for purpose of:
under-subscribed TRQ
over-subscribed TRQ
within the limits of the International Agreement
Source: EU Commission, DG AGRI

28. European Livestock and Meat Trades Union – UECBV