Halloumi has pushed the European Union's trade policy into uncharted and potentially dangerous territory, politico comments in an article on the non-ratification by the Cypriot parliament of the Euro-Canadian agreement (also known as CETA or EPA).
After Spiegel and the US web portal refers to voting against the trade agreement by a vote of 37-18, which made Cyprus the first EU country to block an agreement that has been in place temporarily since 2017. "The reasons that prompted MPs to oppose the EU's Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Ottawa ranged from concerns about labour rights to anger over inadequate legal protection for Cyprus's national delicacy: the grilled, salty halloumi," it says.
As added to the piece, EU officials in Brussels have been preparing for this possibility for several years and believe they have incorporated enough guarantees into the legal framework of trade agreements to ensure that a country's national parliament cannot torpedo the entire agreement. But this will be tested for the first time, and the key question will be whether Cyprus is only the first instigator before the agreement faces problems in larger countries such as the Netherlands and Italy.
"The moods are strong in relation to halloumi because the Cypriots want the EU trade agreements to protect their traditional cheese from competitors who do not come from Cyprus. They argue that the CETA agreement should block access to the Canadian market for American, Danish, British and Canadian versions of halloumi, known as 'hellim' in Turkish'.
According to Politico, if there is one thing greek cypriots and Turkish Cypriots on the divided island can agree on, it is that a protected label that places halloumi/hellim in the same category as champagne and Parma ham will bring great economic benefits. "The problem is that the European Commission has used halloumi as political leverage over Nicosia in the past to push for the reunification of the island, suggesting that the protected designation could only be achieved if the rubbery delicacy produced on both sides of the Green Line is integrated into a common health surveillance system."
"Four years on, the Commission is complacent that Cyprus - at least on its own - cannot do much. The problem is if you could start a domino effect. Now the Cypriot parliament is trying to throw the ball to Brussels to exert its own pressure," he stressed.
Hard cheese?
The main question for Politico is whether Cyprus really has the clout. EU officials panicked in 2016 when Belgium's regional parliament in Wallonia appeared ready to dissolve CETA by voting against it.
First of all, it is up to the Cypriot Government to formally inform the Council that the failure to ratify CETA is 'permanent and final'. This step leaves little chance of an internal solution before Brussels starts worrying about the consequences. They refer to ruling party MPs who believe that things could turn out quite differently when parliament returns from the holidays.
Brussels could also, in theory, include provision for the protection of halloumi without reopening the agreement, by decision of the Joint Committee. However, it is considered that this could open the door to similar requests in other Member States.
If there is no compromise in the autumn and Cyprus formally notifies Brussels that it is not ratifying the agreement, the Council declares that "the provisional application must be terminated and will be terminated". However, this phrase is not as simple as it seems. The Council says that 'the necessary measures will be taken in accordance with EU procedures', which means that the European Commission must draw up a proposal to end the provisional application of the agreement and that the proposal must be adopted by the Council by qualified majority. "Cyprus will therefore need large arms to support its position," the article concludes.
"This doesn't seem as impossible as it once did. Even in the Netherlands, a supposedly 'hard-core' free trade nation, the ratification of CETA is not guaranteed. The deal passed marginally in the lower house, but the Dutch Senate will prove even harder to win the round because the government does not have a majority there."
It should also be noted that Italy is also a complex case. Italian MPs have yet to vote on the deal due to a clash within the ruling coalition with the eurosceptic Five Star Movement - Parliament's largest party - openly opposed to ratification. Italy's Deputy Trade Minister Manlio Di Stefano of the Five Star Movement has repeatedly expressed confidence that Italy should not ratify the agreement.
Source: eyenews
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