EU members back trade deal with NZ

European Union MPs have backed the start of free trade talks with New Zealand and Australia, while warning negotiators they should be cautious about opening up EU markets to farm produce such as butter and beef.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said last month that the EU should launch and conclude free trade agreements with the two countries in the next two years.

If Juncker’s timeframe is achieved, the EU would get in ahead of Britain, which is also courting its two former colonies but cannot negotiate independent trade deals until it leaves the EU in March 2019.

Any future trade deals would need the approval of the European Parliament.

Its trade committee voted 30 to five on Thursday in favour of starting negotiations with New Zealand and Australia in a resolution setting out MPs’ priorities.

High among these was respect for ‘‘sensitive’’ agricultural products, with imports only phased in over a transition period and safeguards built in that allow them to be suspended if they are shown to be damaging EU farms.

The most sensitive sectors, it said, could potentially be excluded from any deals.

The MPs’ resolution did not specify which products were sensitive, but they would certainly include beef, a key export demand of South American bloc Mercosur in a deal that could be concluded by the end of the year.

EU countries are struggling to agree how much beef they should let in, with France, Ireland and others saying their cattle farmers are under threat.

‘‘We must be aware that the cumulative effect of these deals could be unbearable for the sector,’’ French Socialist MP Eric Andrieu said in a debate on Wednesday (Thursday, NZ time).

New Zealand is the world’s top sheep meat and dairy exporter, while Australia is a major exporter of beef and wheat. –AAP