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IEU-CEPA talks may be pushed back to next administration
This year's elections in both Indonesia and the EU could mean another delay in the prolonged IEU-CEPA talks for concluding after the administration of Prabowo Subianto is installed next month.
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Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto addresses a press briefing on Apr. 16, 2024 about the economic impacts of the Iran-Israel conflict at his office in Jakarta. (JP/Deni Ghifari)
O
ngoing negotiations on the Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA) could face further delays from a change in demand from the EU side due to new leadership, according to Indonesia’s top economic minister.
“Our negotiator is no longer in position. After nine years of talks, just as we were ready to conclude it, the new EU cabinet has introduced new demands,” Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto said on Monday, as quoted by CNBC Indonesia.
According to Airlangga, the three key sticking points in the negotiations are a demand to ease EU exports to Indonesia, duties on Indonesian exports to the EU and disagreement over a digital transmission tax.
“We asked them to wait for [a decision by] the World Trade Organization, but they refused,” he added, without elaborating.
Meanwhile, the Trade Ministry remains optimistic that the IEU-CEPA can be finalized before President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s second and final term ends in October. But the ministry also acknowledged that finalizing the talks was challenging because time was running out, and that it might need to be handed over to the next administration.
“Our chief negotiator is in daily communication with the EU via Zoom, working to find the middle ground and conclude the agreement. There are only two or three issues that remain unresolved,” Bara Krishna Hasibuan, an expert staffer to the trade minister, said on Monday, as quoted in the same CNBC Indonesia report.
Read also: Govt sees no need for further rounds of IEU-CEPA negotiations
