EU deal with Pretoria risks being delayed

Date: 07/10/1999

By Gareth Harding

THE signing of a long-awaited trade deal between the EU and South Africa risks being delayed after the two sides failed to settle their differences over wines and spirits by last week's deadline.

Negotiators are working round the clock to iron out the remaining problems before next Monday (11 October), when the accord is due to be signed by South African President Thabo Mbeki and his Finnish counterpart Marti Ahtisaari.

European Commission officials insist there is no danger of the deal unravelling and are confident the signing ceremony will go ahead, but diplomats admit that "there are some quite difficult problems remaining" .

The threatened delay comes six months after the EU clinched a free-trade deal with Pretoria in March which will liberalise 95% of imports from South Africa within a decade and free up 86% of European exports to the post-Apartheid republic within a similar time-frame. Approval of a separate agreement on wine and spirits was put off until late September to give the two sides time to hammer out the details.

The deal struck in March gives South Africa 12 years to abandon the use of the terms port and sherry, which the Union believes are generic to fortified wines produced in Spain and Portugal. But EU negotiators claim Pretoria is trying to wriggle out of the deal. "South Africa has not shown any great enthusiasm to take the negotiations forward," said one.

In addition to port and sherry, European Commission negotiators are also trying to ring-fence the use of terms such as grappa and grand cru, and specify exactly what percentage of alcohol whisky should contain.

The Commission has warned that until it receives cast-iron commitments on these issues, it will freeze the duty-free quota for wines and spirits entering the bloc and withhold aid promised to help South African port and sherry producers adapt.