France sought to have trade talks with New Zealand paused while its voters went to the polls. Photo / AP
Diplomats were caught by surprise last October when France decided to put pressure on the European Union to halt the conclusion of trade talks with New Zealand ahead of its presidential election, which will be held this year.
In an attempt to rescue the negotiations, officials scrambled to organise an emergency phone call between Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron and, later, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
National said the episode showed New Zealand's weakening relationships in Europe and the need to build stronger connections in the continent, particularly as New Zealand's historic diplomatic partner in Europe, the UK, has now exited the EU.
The first diplomats heard about the pause was when it appeared in the media, with financial news outlet Bloomberg reporting French sources saying there was pressure to pause negotiations.
The French were apparently concerned the trade agreement would become an issue during their elections, with vocal French farmers likely to raise concerns about the market access granted to New Zealand competitors.
The story was swiftly sent around New Zealand's diplomats, according to a briefing paper released to the Herald under the Official Information Act.
The briefing notes that officials had "this morning seen concerning media reports in Bloomberg stating that France is trying to block the EU from proceeding with trade talks with New Zealand until after the presidential election in April next year".
Officials scheduled a call with the French ambassador to Wellington Sylvaine Carta-Le Vert to discuss the news, among other things.
The paper outlined a "[t]imeline for engagement with France in the coming days", although the details of this engagement were not made public. The paper alludes to further discussions with the French ambassador at a diplomatic function in New Zealand.
New Zealand scrambled ambassadors across Europe to intercede, specifically in Paris and Brussels, which is the home of the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, which plays the central role in trade negotiations.
They were sent the copied text of the Bloomberg article, which was behind a paywall, and therefore unavailable for everyone to read for free.
In early November, Mfat put a wider call out to its European Union embassies in Berlin, Dublin, The Hague, Madrid, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna and Warsaw.
The message said that "[c]lose EU partners' views/advice on this issue will be useful.
"With this in mind, we have urgent tasking for ... EUR posts, mindful of the complications presented by holidays earlier this week, and with apologies for the short turnaround requested'.
It asked those embassies to "[p]lease engage relevant Trade counterparts … drawing on the following points as you deem appropriate:" - Mfat did not release the points it wanted embassies to draw on. Those embassies reported back to Wellington, although Mfat did not release their observations.
By November 4, officials had successfully organised a call between Ardern and Macron. Wellington called on the head of the EU Delegation in Wellington Nina Obermeyer to arrange a call with von der Leyen. This appears to have taken place in December.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister said negotiations were ongoing, and both Macron and von der Leyen share New Zealand's ambitions for the agreement.
"The Prime Minister spoke with both European Commission President von der Leyen and President Macron of France in late 2021," the spokesman said.
"During the course of those discussions, the Prime Minister reiterated New Zealand's commitment to concluding a high quality and comprehensive free trade agreement with the European Union as soon as possible and welcomed the confirmation from both leaders that they shared this objective," the spokesman said.
"Given the significance of the EU-NZ FTA to New Zealand exporters, the Prime Minister has been actively engaged in promoting our interests and reinforcing with a range of European leaders the value to both New Zealand and the EU of concluding a high-quality agreement as soon as we can," he said.
The arguments made by Ardern and officials to France and the EU were heavily redacted, but the documents give a glimpse into New Zealand's exasperation.
"We have shown a lot of flexibility in negotiations," the papers said.
"The strategic case for an FTA is unquestioned. We are partners on sustainability and climate issues, we share values on democracy and human rights, we work together on digital issues.
"We are a useful bridge between Europe and the Indo-Pacific."
A separate report on the FTA said that "solid progress" on the agreement itself, but the "key gap remains in goods market access. The EU has still not tabled a revised offer on 'sensitive' items, like beef and dairy".
National's trade spokesman Todd McClay said the snafu showed that New Zealand's relationship with France was not as deep as the Government had been letting on. Macron and Ardern's joint leadership of the Christchurch Call had suggested the relationship was a strong one.
"It feels like the Government and the prime minister are overselling how strong the relationship is. Is it as strong as they suggested [and] that France would be acting like the UK and championing our cause around the European table?" McClay said.
"For them to have canned negotiations and New Zealand to have found out through the media - that doesn't sound like any of my friends," he said.
The papers suggest that New Zealand's diplomats had been pushing the point that France should not be dictating trade policy to the European Commission. As part of the EU, France has no independent ability to negotiate trade agreements and instead, trade negotiations are conducted at the level of the European Commission for France and all other countries that are part of the European Union.
Chief executive and secretary of foreign affairs and trade Chris Seed made this point to Parliament's Foreign Affairs, Defence, and Trade Committee this week.
"The Prime Minister herself has been in telephone contact in late December with the President of the Commission and there was - the Prime Minister and other ministers have continued to remind our European colleagues that trade competency lies with the Commission and our expectation is these negotiation rounds will continue to be held, and continue to be advanced," Seed said.
He said that New Zealand was nonetheless conscious of the role of "political cycles" in trade.
"We are also conscious of political cycles, particularly the distraction, for want of a better word … of the French Presidential election which is due in a couple of months which is clearly sucking some of the oxygen from our ability to move the FTA discussions forward," Seed said.
Wendy Matthews, divisional manager of trade policy and negotiation, told the committee another negotiation round would begin soon.
"I can say the next round starts next week so we will have a comprehensive round across all the chapters next week," Matthews said.
"The FTA is still moving ahead and there are good discussions at ministerial level as well," she said.
An Mfat spokesperson said that throughout the talks, "Mfat officials have remained in close contact with the European Commission, as well as French and other European counterparts".
While the talks were never conclusively paused, the French election meant the agreement could not be finalised and published.
Once signed, the agreement could become one of New Zealand's most significant.
"This FTA will grow New Zealand's exports to the EU – already our fourth-largest trading partner with current two-way goods and services trade at over $15 billion per year – and open up new opportunities for goods and services trade in a market of close to 450 million consumers," said a spokesman for the Prime Minister.
The New Zealand Defence force has a budget shortfall of $130 million.