Is Europe in control of its agricultural free trade agreements?

Abstract

In this chapter, we focus on the bilateral free trade agreements that the European Union (EU) has signed and plans to sign in the coming years. These agreements have evolved in the course of time to cover today, not only the trade of goods and services, but also public procurement rules, intellectual property, environmental protection or investment. They oppose convinced partisans of their economic benefits and fierce opponents. We give an overview of the EU’s bilateral trade negotiations, the arguments put forward to justify them as well as reservations or criticism. In a forward-looking way, we question ourselves on what form future trade agreements might take. Whatever scenario is chosen by the EU, one imperative remains, that is, to be more ambitious on the environmental and social goals assigned to the agreements, at the risk of making them incomprehensible to the public, and more transparent regarding the expected distribution of costs and benefits of liberalisation.