Incoming EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan has said the “mood music” on a Brexit deal has changed and added he is now “cautiously optimistic” an agreement can be reached.

Phil Hogan looks set to be nominated in the coming days to take over the powerful role of EU Trade Commissioner.

Business representative body Ibec has criticised the omission from the Programme for Government of the proposed major trade deal between the European Union and United States.

Get a taste of some of the interesting and quirky happenings in Europe from our Europe correspondent, Ann Cahill.

The European Union has signalled the difficulties of including an investment-protection clause in any free-trade agreement with the US by saying the step faces huge scepticism in Europe.

The market for the €2bn Irish beef and livestock sector is being put at serious risk by ongoing EU/Canadian trade negotiations, says IFA president John Bryan.

China has been accused of breaking world trading rules by limiting its exports of materials vital for high-tech industries.

PERHAPS the EU is not really serious about the environment. Farmers worry about EU measures to cut greenhouse gases, but wonder if they may be part of a political bluff mounted in Brussels for reasons unknown to the average punter.

FARM groups yesterday criticised the double standards with which the EU Commission treats foods produced inside and outside the EU.

Global trade chiefs meeting in Switzerland spoke today of their optimism that a new deal to liberalise international commerce can be finalised, but offered little in the way of concrete progress to indicate they can reach agreement before the end of the year.

European Union officials today signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the EU and South Korea.

Banana prices are set to fall after the longest trade dispute in EU history was settled in Geneva today.

Farmers are protesting at Government Buildings in Dublin today to voice their opposition to a proposed deal on beef at the World Trade Organisation talks.

The Irish Farmers' Association claims a compromise proposal for a new global trade deal would seriously damage Irish farming.

The Irish Farmers Association says it believes the current round of world trade talks in Geneva are on the brink of failure.

AS the world trade talks made little progress in Geneva yesterday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a critic of European Union concessions on agriculture, warned he would not sign a deal in its current form.

IN THE horse trading in Geneva, EU farmers were sold out again within a few hours.

Farmers today claimed a proposed agricultural deal at forthcoming World Trade Organisation talks would cost them billions and at least a half-million jobs.

THE current round of world trade talks in Geneva, which pose a major threat to farming and agri business in Ireland, look set for an end game.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen admitted his options were limited in relation to salvaging the Lisbon treaty after he was told by several of his EU colleagues that they do not want to renegotiate the treaty.

WELL done to farmers for speaking up in recent weeks and making their concerns known ahead of next week’s referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

The IFA is to recommend a Yes vote in the Lisbon Treaty referendum following a last-minute pledge by the Taoiseach to veto any world trade deal that is bad for Irish farmers.

ONLY Sweden and Britain sided with EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson last week when he repeated that agreeing a world trade deal ahead of the US presidential election in November is crucial.

BROAD agri-industry support has emerged for a national farm lobby protest to be staged in Dublin next Thursday when European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso addresses the Forum for Europe in Dublin Castle.

FINE GAEL has announced it is to move a Dáil private members motion on the threats posed to Irish farming and agribusiness by the World Trade talks.

ALL-PARTY support in a recent Dáil debate strengthened the Government’s hand for any action it might take to resist an unfavourable world trade deal — such as a veto bid to prevent the EU agreeing to such a deal.

IRELAND risks losing out in agriculture, trade and services under current negotiations on a new world trade deal, Trade Minister John McGuinness has warned.

Farmers are planning a protest outside the offices of the EU Commission in Dublin this lunchtime.

Six of the top trade representatives of the World Trade Organisation have proposed to complete negotiations on a treaty to liberalise global commerce by the end of the year, a joint statement in India said.

HOPES of a power-sharing deal in the North rose dramatically last night as Ian Paisley appeared unusually upbeat over a devolution breakthrough.

AN invitation to EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson to an Agri-Vision 2015 meeting when he visits Ireland on March 23 was described by the IFA yesterday as a political misjudgment by Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan.

EU and Japanese trade officials said today that they were ready to step up their efforts in coming weeks to strike a world trade deal.

FRANCE has stood by its farmers, and by Ireland’s farmers too, time after time when the odds were against them in CAP reform talks. That is largely due to Jacques Chirac, president of France since 1995.

CHILDREN’S shoes could be taxed for the first time under proposals to be debated by EU member states during the next month.

THE multi-billion euro Irish beef and dairy industries have urged Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan to remain resolute in her defence of European agribusiness following the collapse of the WTO talks.

EU POLICY on agriculture was one of the bedrocks of the entire post-World War II dream to create a peaceful European continent.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the European Union today that it would have to give Russia the chance to buy into gas distribution networks in Europe if it wanted Moscow to give up its monopoly on gas export pipelines.

Bolivia’s Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela were heading today to a European summit amid criticism of recent moves making it tougher for foreign energy firms to do business in their countries.

China urged the European Union today to reconsider proposed sanctions on its exports of shoes.

Consumer boycotts of Danish goods in Muslim countries in protest of the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed are costing Denmark’s companies millions, and have raised fears of irreparable damage to trade ties.

MUSLIM anger over a Danish newspaper’s decision to publish cartoons of the prophet Mohammed escalated yesterday, with the EU becoming embroiled in an increasingly angry row.

IRISH whiskey could soon gains access to India, the world’s largest whiskey market.