LATIKA M BOURKE: EU President Ursula von der Leyen delays Australia deal visit, Don Farrell to fly to Brussels

The President of the European Commission has delayed her planned trip to Australia amid fresh brinkmanship over meat quotas — the final sticking point to be determined in any EU-Australia free trade deal.

Last week, preparations were being made for Ursula von der Leyen to fly to Australia straight after this weekend’s Munich Security Conference.

While her trip was not formally announced, sources in Canberra and Brussels told The Nightly that she had hoped to sign a supersized strategic partnership with Australia that would involve a critical minerals deal, a security agreement as well as new trading arrangements.

But that has been delayed, a move that came after the President travelled to Paris for a meeting with one of Europe’s main opponents of allowing more Australian beef into the EU — French President Emmanuel Macron.

He did not state whether trade was discussed but has long been a champion of both “strategic autonomy” whilst at the same time backing a European-made strategy and backing his nation’s farmers who are afraid of higher Australian beef imports.

“My message: speed up our European independence agenda. Invest, protect, diversify, and simplify, faster,” the president said on X.

Australia’s Trade Minister Don Farrell then upped the ante, warning a deal was no fait accompli and he would walk out of talks again as he did in Japan in 2023, when negotiations collapsed last time.

Mr Farrell will travel to Brussels this week for negotiations on Thursday, and said he wanted to make genuine progress.

“We hope to make progress in negotiations this week,” Senator Farrell told The Nightly.

“We genuinely want to reach an agreement with the Europeans and believe there is enough momentum on both sides to achieve a good agreement.

“However, as we have said all along, we need a better offer on agriculture. Without that, there can be no agreement.”

Professor Brent Jackson, Project Co-Director, European Union Centre of Excellence on Critical Minerals, said news of President von der Leyen’s delayed visit was disappointing but not unexpected.

“Without a secure and diversified supply of critical raw materials, EU countries will continue repeating the mistakes of the past and stay beholden to a single source of supply,” he said.

“The EU has again conceded to infighting among stakeholders instead of addressing the real issue facing the bloc, which is its aspiration of strategic autonomy.

“With other countries now seizing the negotiating initiative, whatever competitive edge the EU had is fast evaporating. An FTA with Australia would have gone a long way to addressing the EU’s chokepoint on critical minerals.”

But Hamish McIntyre, president of the National Farmers Federation, said it was worth jettisoning the entire deal if Australia’s producers did not get enough access.

“The Government has set a clear bar as we enter the final stages of these negotiations - no deal is better than a bad deal for Australian agriculture,” he said.

“This deal is clearly at the pointy end, and the Government should not flinch on the standard they have now set. A one-sided EU agreement would lock in decades of disadvantage for Australian farmers.”

EU spokesman Olof Gill said that the European Commissioner for Trade, Maros Sefcovic as well as the Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen would lead the talks with Mr Farrell.

“Negotiations between the EU and Australia are ongoing,” he said.

“The EU is committed to strengthening relations with Australia, a strategic and like-minded partner.

“As always, progress in the sensitive phase of negotiations will depend on substance.”