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Post by Vinny on Jul 11, 2023 23:50:20 GMT
Once again the EU's one size fits none approach to trade agreements has failed.
They could have done a lot to shed their protectionist bad image, but instead they've cemented it.
Bilateral agreements are more flexible than the EU's shoddy methods.
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Post by buccaneer on Jul 12, 2023 5:59:17 GMT
They started negotiations in 2018. It's been five years and the EU still doesn't have one with Australia. Of course, the EU likes to protect its unproductive, inefficient and heavily subsidised farmers - EU consumers in the meantime lose out and pay higher prices for a product that is in all probability inferior. Apparently issues like this irked the EU too: A sticking point in the trade talks is the EU’s objection to Australian food producers using terms such as feta and prosecco.
Australian negotiators argue it is reasonable for farmers to use the terms to represent varieties rather than European regions. *rollseyes. www.afr.com/politics/federal/more-work-required-as-eu-australia-fail-to-reach-fta-20230712-p5dnk4I am surprised the EU didn't demand entitlement of their "citizens" free-movement to Australia and welfare benefits - tongue in cheek for those who are too literal for their own good. I read a while back that Australian negotiators found negotiating with the EU was tedious and tiresome. No wonder they struggle to make trade deals of relevance anymore. |
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Post by Vinny on Jul 12, 2023 7:05:41 GMT
The EU are useless.
Thank goodness we're out.
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Post by steppenwolf on Jul 12, 2023 7:45:33 GMT
The EU has massive office blocks full of lawyers and the EU Commission is full of very skilled negotiators who specialise in trade agreements. That's why we get taken to the cleaners every time. I wouldn't put my signature to anything that this bunch of crooks wrote. They're worse than the Mafia.
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Post by Vinny on Jul 12, 2023 8:20:44 GMT
The Berlaymont building alone can accommodate 3,000 civil servants and 1600 cars.
The total size of the EU civil service working under the Commission, is 32,000 staff.
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Post by Vinny on Jul 12, 2023 11:58:57 GMT
The EU has massive office blocks full of lawyers and the EU Commission is full of very skilled negotiators who specialise in trade agreements. That's why we get taken to the cleaners every time. I wouldn't put my signature to anything that this bunch of crooks wrote. They're worse than the Mafia. Gotta say, you're not wrong. |
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Post by patman post on Jul 12, 2023 12:20:21 GMT
The Berlaymont building alone can accommodate 3,000 civil servants and 1600 cars. The total size of the EU civil service working under the Commission, is 32,000 staff. Is that 32,000 staff for the whole of the EU's 448 million inhabitants?
As of March 2023, there were 488,400 full-time equivalent (FTE) civil servants for the UK's 67 million residents — one for every 137 residents... |
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Post by Vinny on Jul 12, 2023 12:35:43 GMT
Patman, EFTA manages to provide free trade with just 91 staff.
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Post by Dan Dare on Jul 12, 2023 12:41:56 GMT
The entire EU budget is smaller than the GDP of Ethiopia, or around 1.1% of the GDP of the EU itself.
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Post by Vinny on Jul 12, 2023 12:43:12 GMT
The entire EU budget is smaller than the GDP of Ethiopia, or around 1.1% of the GDP of the EU itself. Same can be said of FIFA, but both are still badly managed and cost more than they need to. And both like bungs. That is something the Aussies didn't consider when negotiating. |
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Post by Dan Dare on Jul 12, 2023 12:48:11 GMT
According to the Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index Aussies are much more inclined to go for bungs that they used to be. They've fallen from 7th position to 18th in ten years.
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Post by Vinny on Jul 12, 2023 12:55:08 GMT
Nobody ever said the Aussies were perfect.
If they were, they wouldn't need free trade agreements with anyone, would they?
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Post by patman post on Jul 12, 2023 12:55:21 GMT
Patman, EFTA manages to provide free trade with just 91 staff. But with only Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland to satisfy as members, why would it need that number? I guess each member also has its own EFTA-devoted staff... |
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Post by Vinny on Jul 12, 2023 12:56:51 GMT
The simple truth is, a free trade agreement does not need to be a customs union, a common agricultural policy, a common fisheries policy, or a political union.
All it needs to be is an agreement of zero customs tariffs between members.
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Post by Dan Dare on Jul 12, 2023 13:12:32 GMT
The simple truth is, a free trade agreement does not need to be a customs union, a common agricultural policy, a common fisheries policy, or a political union. All it needs to be is an agreement of zero customs tariffs between members. Was the EU insisting that all those things became part of an FTA with Australia? |
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