Dead in the water
OPINION: In a victory for common sense over virtue signalling, David Parker's National Policy Statement (NPS) work on freshwater is now dead in the water.
He told Rural News of his surprise that New Zealand, along with Australia, are two of only about six countries without FTAs with the EU.
“We are amongst the most aligned in our values with Europe of any country: we have strong democracies, we respect the rule of law, we have high environmental standards and we are a high wage economy,” Parker explains.
“There is no good reason for not having a FTA between the EU and NZ. It is wrong that despite the shared values and other things we have in common, NZ has been unable to reach a FTA with Europe. We also think the vast majority of people in Europe agree with this, so we want to get a FTA as soon as possible.”
NZ has put enormous effort into securing a FTA: officials and politicians including the Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Agriculture have visited Europe. Parker will next month make another such trip.
Despite murmurings that formal negotiations coulkd begin later this month, Brussels is silent on the subject. Brexit has muddled the whole thing.
And despite the smiles from Macron and Merkle, behind the scenes some countries worry what sort of deal the EU may make. An Irish politician describes the Brexit negotiations as the biggest and most important negotiation Ireland has participated in since the 1921 treaty that gave Ireland its independence.
Parker believes NZ is making progress with the EU, but concedes no deal is in the bag. He says the biggest roadblock NZ faces is the member countries not giving the European Commission the mandate to start negotiations.
“But I am optimistic; NZ poses no threats to EU agriculture,” he says.
“Our cow numbers are going down in NZ, so our dairy volumes aren’t going to go up. We are not all of a sudden going to divide a sheep in two and double our sheep numbers overnight, and NZ sheep volumes aren’t going to increase.”
Also on the cards for NZ is an FTA with the UK, and Parker says in theory this should be the easiest deal to do given that we are traditional allies, share a common language and have common institutions.
“We want to do a deal, but they are not yet in a position to negotiate,” he explains.
Overall, Parker is claiming victory on the trade front since Labour came to power. He points to the CPTTP, which he says was signed without the fuss the earlier deal encountered. He says he’s had good feedback from farmers who are pleased with the achievements on the trade front.
“Trade is fascinating,” he says. “We are pleased with the progress we are making on trade agreements; we have rebuilt public support for trade in NZ and we have dealt with some of the clauses in trade agreements that people don’t like and moved to protect NZ.”
