parmesan, feta and prosecco
Just rename them parmesaun, fetau, proseccau. Problem solved!
Yes, if you make some knock off Parmesan with a knock off name it’s not an issue.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Trade Minister Don Farrell is due to hold face-to-face talks with his EU counterpart in Osaka on Monday but has already told negotiators he will be walking away from the deal — for the second time in three months — because the offer on the table is still not good enough.
But five years after negotiations began, farmers have labelled the existing offer a “dud”, arguing it barely improves market access for Australian sugar, red meat and dairy and would impose “conditions” or European-mandated restrictions on local farming practices.
The other major sticking point has been EU demands for Australia to give up naming rights to hundreds of products – including prosecco, parmesan and feta – to protect so-called “geographical indications”.
As part of the agreement, the EU has been pushing for greater access to Australia’s vast critical minerals, and for the abolition of the $1 billion Luxury Car Tax, which would benefit Australian consumers.
The two sides agreed a trade deal would help both markets diversify away from China, which slapped eye-watering tariffs on Australian imports during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in what was widely viewed as economic coercion.
The Albanese government has been gradually restoring trade ties with Beijing since coming to power and it is hoped the prime minister’s upcoming trip to China will see a further relaxation of sanctions.
The original article contains 513 words, the summary contains 222 words. Saved 57%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
I frankly don’t care whether they rename drinks and cheeses because Europeans hate that their stuff is inferior to local products. Well, except Feta - the Greek stuff is amazing.
In general, we’ll happily keep buying the same brands we already buy and it’ll mean diddly squat for sales of imports.
I’m not sure what the real sticking point of a trade deal is, it probably has something to do with politics. I’m not even sure why we want a trade deal - the EU is very far away, and if we’re talking food, that’s a lot of transport carbon to offset in either direction.
What products are the sides really wanting to trade? Are they after our dirt?
I also noticed the article seemed a little vague regarding ideal goals of an FTA between Australia and EU.
Seems like the EU mostly wanted Australia to agree to their geographical indicator rules (e.g. not allowed to use feta, Prosecco etc names) and for Australia to agree to much more ambitious climate action and sustainability targets.
So that kind of explains why they aren’t too fussed about reaching an agreement with Australia (plus Australia upset France by withdrawing from its submarine deal the way it did), whereas Australia had a lot more to gain.
- Reducing or eliminating the current excise levels (7-12%) across industrial goods,
- increasing or eliminating altogether the allowed currently very restrictive quotas of agricultural goods that can be exported to EU, and
- building towards mutual recognition of professional licensing and registration, so workers can more easily move between EU and Australia.
But the EU being almost half a billion people vs our 26 million, we were never going to have very effective leverage I think.
(This link had better details https://www.claytonutz.com/knowledge/2022/july/free-trade-agreement-between-australia-and-the-european-union-back-on-the-table-with-some-caveats)
and for Australia to agree to much more ambitious climate action and sustainability targets.
Money talks. Maybe Albo will get serious about the climate now. Pissing in the pool is generally frowned upon, especially when the grown ups do it.
What products are the sides really wanting to trade? Are they after our dirt?
Seems so. I found this article from DFAT much more informative: https://www.dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/negotiations/aeufta/australia-european-union-fta-fact-sheet
Well, except Feta - the Greek stuff is amazing.
You can buy Australian made “Greek style” Feta. Try this one: https://www.mungallicreekdairy.com.au/products/organic-fetta-in-brine/
Oh I know. We don’t have that particular brand, but we have similar fetta of great calibre. My point was more that the locally produced fetta isn’t superior than the Greek stuff. The same goes for Parmesan: some of the imported parmesan holds its own against Australian-made cheeses.
But I’ve never had a European prosecco that was as good as locally-produced product.
The brand I linked is sold nationwide - have you tried it? I don’t think there’s any other dairy like it in the world.
The cows are 100% grass fed, and the grass is incredible. The soil on those farms was built up by being rainforest for over a hundred million years - unfortunately the land was cleared before it could be protected under Unesco World Heritage laws, and the paddocks get rain almost daily. Sometimes they are literally in the clouds.
They do a decent job at the factory as well, but mostly it’s the quality of the milk that makes it so premium.
It sometimes feels like we are another country, but I promise that WA is still a part of Australia, and their own website says “no results found” when searching for a place to buy the Feta here.
