It is difficult to believe that six months ago both the European Parliament and European Commission were obsessed with the direction and speed of travel with trade talks, particularly the TTIP discussions with the US and the revived talks with Mercosur.

The 15th Round of TTIP discussions closed in New York last Friday and had very much an end of term feel about them. It was essentially a week of stock-taking, with hopes long since gone of a deal ahead of the US election. It looks like Obama won’t succeed in closing the TTIP deal with Japan and other Pacific countries, never mind the EU. Expect the EU discussions to be kicked well into 2017 before anything meaningful takes place.

It appears that the long-running Mercosur discussions will do just that, keep running

A new administration in the US will have to settle in and elections have to be held in Europe against a background of growing hostility against the talks, not the environment for radical discussions. It is similar with Mercosur. After a flurry of activity earlier in the year, with a beef offer floated internally and being roundly rejected by the Commission after extensive member state lobbying, it appears that the long-running Mercosur discussions will do just that, keep running.

Brexit

While it isn’t being said, it is clear the Brexit vote has hit all elements of the EU headquarters hard and it is evident that ambitions have changed to become more inward-facing. This was the case at Monday’s Council of Agricultural and Fisheries Ministers meeting in Luxembourg, where fisheries dominated the agenda. Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan addressed the gathering, committing to further simplification of CAP supports and greater flexibilities for member states to adjudicate on production-related matters around qualification.

Strong lobby for mid-term review of the CAP

It is also becoming apparent that there is a strong lobby for mid-term review of the CAP, something that farm organisations across Europe won’t want. Preliminaries on the next CAP are due to start next year; some would say the work has already begun. While the present CAP is far from perfect, it will be the negotiations for the next one that will show how much worse it could be for farmers.

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Hogan: EU-US trade deal unlikely under Obama