The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Europe ready to bare teeth over UK trade
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, used an address to the European Parliament to warn the commission was ready to “show its teeth” over the trade deal with the UK.
She said this would happen if the UK tried to unilaterally alter what had been agreed, particularly over the complex protocol that keeps Northern Ireland in the EU single market. This confirms slow progress and intransigence in Brussels and London over all issues around UK food exports to the EU.
Speaking to farm ministers, the agriculture commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski claimed EU exports to the UK had held up well. He claimed progress on global trade deals was being made.
He suggested agreement with the Mercosur countries of South America would be finalised soon and claimed good progress towards agreements with Australia and New Zealand, possibly by the end of the year. He said the approach was to put “substance ahead of speed”. The UK is desperate for headlinegrabbing trade deals.
Meanwhile, the commission is showing signs of a move away from outright hostility towards genetic modification (GM).
It has announced a consultation on the development of a new approach towards what it describes as NGTS – new genomic techniques. This has also been described as gene editing and is about altering, in a positive way, the genome to deliver desirable characteristics, such as disease or drought resistance.
It differs from traditional GM techniques in that it is less focused on introducing genes from other species. The commission said it was clear legislation on GM, which is largely negative, is no longer “fit for purpose”.
This legislation was introduced in 2001. This moves the EU and UK towards the same page on gene editing, although progress in the EU is likely to be much slower. It claims NGTS linked to good labelling can deliver positive environmental gains.
The commission has also begun a two-year study into what it is calling “carbon farming”. This is built around techniques that go beyond the basic message that carbon reduction to mitigate climate change can only come by reducing livestock numbers.