Cheesed-Off Minister Threatens to Ditch EU-Australia Trade Deal

Australia won’t sign a free trade deal with the European Union (EU) if the bloc continues to play hardball over the naming rights of products such as cheeses and wine. 

The EU is pushing for geographic indicators—which Australia says is a no go—that would stop local producers using labels such as parmesan, prosecco and feta. 

Trade Minister Don Farrell said he would not sign an agreement just for the sake of it as he heads to Brussels on June 3 for another round of negotiations. 

“We are not going to go at it at any cost,” he told a Senate hearing on June 2.

“If the Europeans play too hard, then we won’t have an agreement.”

Farrell said access to the market of 450 million people would be a significant boost to Australia’s trade but the government was working on diversifying, including into the United States, India and southeast Asia.

“It’s not that we don’t have other options but … that’s a big, relatively wealthy community, so it’s an important one to get,” Farrell said. 

Farrell is aiming to have an agreement by the middle of the year but says negotiations are not at the stage where he believes it’s a good deal for Australia.

“We want one. It’d be good for Australian businesses if we can get a satisfactory deal, but all of these things have to be determined by our national interests,” Farrell said.

King Valley Winemakers say even grandfathering geographic indicators, which would allow some companies to continue using the names, is a concerning outcome. 

Michael Dal Zotto from Victoria’s Dal Zotto Wines said prosecco wasn’t a geographical indicator. 

“From our position to even entertain the fact that there is another name for prosecco is absolute rubbish,” Dal Zotto said.

“For us, there really is no negotiation in this piece—it is a grape variety called Prosecco, to lose that would be quite detrimental to our region.”

Wines of the King Valley president Dean Cleave-Smith said it was about the right to use the name of a grape variety, regional jobs and the viability of the King Valley as a wine-producing area.

“What’s on the table is not just prosecco, not just history, but economic prosperity for regional Victoria,” Cleave-Smith said.

Cleave-Smith said putting in a grandfathered clause sounded fine on the surface but was complex in reality.

“We want to grow the category, we want to innovate, we want to inspire new players to participate in this great drinks category so grandfathering is not an option.”

Opposition trade spokesman Dan Tehan said there should be no compromise on geographical indicators. 

“Anything other than Australia prosecco producers having free rein to sell their wonderful product here and abroad should be considered as capitulation to the EU and a bad deal for Australia,” Tehan said.