Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 June 2017
242. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she will outline current EU free trade agreements that are in pre-negotiation phase and impact assessments with each such free trade agreement. [26415/17]
View answerThe European Commission Work Programme 2017 provides that the Commission will seek authorisation to open negotiations for free trade agreements (FTA) with New Zealand and Australia.
The European Commission concluded preparatory talks with New Zealand on 7 March 2017 and with Australia on 6 April 2017 to assess whether the countries have similar interests for a trade deal to be feasible. This scoping exercise defines the areas to be covered and the level of ambition of future free trade agreements.
As a next step, the European Commission will ask Member States for negotiating mandates to negotiate on behalf of the EU on the basis of specific objectives for an EU – New Zealand FTA and an EU-Australia FTA. In parallel, the European Commission is finalising impact assessments of the potential impact of such a trade deals.
These impact assessments will take into account new opportunities that such agreements could create for EU businesses, as well as, taking into account EU agricultural sensitivities as provided for in the European Commission’s “Trade Strategy for All 2015”. The impact assessments will be publically available on the European Commissions website.
