澳大利亚与欧盟自贸协定在国会遇阻 国家党领袖试图否决、商界警告勿错失4.5亿人市场
堪培拉——澳大利亚与欧盟自由贸易协定的国会审议引发执政联盟内部公开分歧。据澳大利亚媒体10月18日报道，国家党领袖 Matt Canavan 正试图阻止该协定通过；一名联邦部长批评国家党内的“狂热者”正牵着自由党偏离其自由市场与贸易的传统立场。
争议焦点在农产品市场准入：牛肉生产商希望获得5万吨配额，而今年3月定稿的协定争取到3.5万吨，虽约为现行水平的八倍，仍低于业界期望；羊肉出口配额定在近3.1万吨，高于此前的5,800吨。
澳大利亚工业集团首席执行官 Innes Willox 本周表示，协定“并不完美，但协议从来就没有完美的”，进入一个4.5亿人口的市场有潜力整体提振澳大利亚经济与成千上万家企业；若联盟党成功否决，这将是澳大利亚首个未能通过国会的自由贸易协定。
信息来源：NewsWire、澳大利亚工业集团
Australia-EU Trade Deal Faces Parliament Fight as Nationals Leader Moves to Block It
CANBERRA — The Australia-European Union free trade agreement has split the federal Coalition as it heads for a parliamentary vote, Australian media reported on October 18. Nationals leader Matt Canavan is trying to block the deal, while a federal minister accused Nationals “fanatics” of leading the Liberal Party “by the nose” against its free-market and trade traditions.
The fight centres on farm access. Beef producers wanted market access quotas of 50,000 tonnes, but the agreement, finalised in March, secured 35,000 tonnes — an eight-fold improvement on current levels. Sheep meat exports landed at just under 31,000 tonnes, up from 5,800 tonnes.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said this week the deal “is not perfect” but that “no agreements ever are.” Easier and greater access to a market of 450 million people “has the potential to be a general boost to our economy and to thousands of individual businesses,” he said. “We have been in protracted negotiations for a decade and while we have not got all we want, to turn our backs on the agreement now would be a major blow to Australia's long held support for free trade and open markets.” If the Coalition succeeded in blocking it, the deal would be the first free trade agreement not to pass Australia's parliament.
Sources: NewsWire; Australian Industry Group
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：澳大利亚堪培拉国会大厦。Photo by Nick Pitsas, CSIRO, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.
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