The Government expects the European Union to conclude a big trade deal with Australia in the coming weeks, which will open the European market to significant amounts of agricultural products.
Dublin will endorse the agreement, it is expected, but the new agreement will alarm farmers, who recently fought a campaign against the Mercosur trade deal with South American countries.
Although details have not yet been finalised, drafts of the agreement suggest that some 30,000 tonnes of Australian beef will be permitted in the EU market every year, posing additional competition for Irish beef farmers.
The Mercosur deal was agreed by the EU, and although the State and several countries objected, they were outvoted and the agreement was signed. The Government had come under intense pressure from the farming lobby to oppose the deal.
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A vote by the European Parliament to refer the agreement to the European Court of Justice has not stopped it from being provisionally implemented, following a decision of the European Commission, which has responsibility for trade matters on behalf of the EU.
The commission and the Australian government are expected to conclude the agreement – which has been in negotiation for many years – within weeks, with one senior source suggesting that the remaining issues could be agreed sometime in April.
Three sources in the Government with knowledge of the issue said that Dublin would back the deal, which it is understood has already been discussed at the highest level within the Coalition.
According to one source, having opposed the Mercosur deal, the State could not seek to block another trade agreement “and still claim to be a pro-free trade country”.
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However, farming sources said it is unlikely that the representative organisations would mount a full-scale campaign of opposition against the Australia deal as they did against Mercosur.
It is expected that the agreement will offer access to the European market for at least 30,000 tonnes of Australian beef and will also set quotas for lamb and other agricultural products. In turn, EU products will get preferential access to the Australian market.
EU briefing documents suggest that sectors such as machinery and appliances, chemicals, cars, food and drink, electronic equipment and metals would stand to gain most.
The European Union has said that the deal could increase trade in goods between Australia and the EU by up to 33 per cent and services trade by up to 8 per cent, adding up to €3.9 billion to the European Union’s gross domestic product by 2030.
