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"We operate on a mandate to the member states and the EU Parliament and you have to try and convince the French,Italians and Spanish in particular that some of the European names are actually going to have Australian recognition."

He said he expected the final deal to boil down to six contentious names - or"geographic indicators"out of 200,and floated the option of trademarks or grandfathering to get the deal across the line.

"I hear prosecco,I read it a lot but no one has told me officially that this is a problem,when we see this list we will be able to talk about it,"said Mr Hogan.

"We will find solutions. It could be co-existence,grandfathering or we might accept the evidence that a product is produced by Australia like prosecco and that they have a good case."

Trade expert William van Caenegem from Bond University's law faculty said the geographic indicator list - based on a product tied to a particular place such as champagne - was weighted towards Europe because of its history but Australia did have a long-term interest through products such as King Island dairy and Tasmanian whisky.

"There are other options,trademarks,certifications but"geographic indicators"have the advantage once they are gazetted,they apply to everyone and enforcement is easy,"he said."They are useful for farmers who don't usually have lots of resources."

The Australian government has been reluctant to provide a final list of the products up for debate without any concessions from the EU. It has knocked back EU suggestions that Australian products could be called"feta-like"or"parmesan-like"but industry remains open to an"Australian prosecco"compromise.

Discussions between the two parties have eased since the last round in Brussels,but Senator Birmingham said he would not initiate a list - called a'"public objections process"until negotiations had progressed further.

Minister for Trade Simon Birmingham.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"We will only go down the path of having a formal process in terms of what's known as an objections process around geographical indications when we're satisfied that we're getting enough progress elsewhere around the Free Trade Agreement discussion,"said Senator Birmingham.

The parties have also been discussing tariffs and greater market access for beef producers.

"Australian industry can be confident that we will drive a hard bargain,as we always do,to achieve an overall agreement of benefit to Australia,"he said.

The trade deal has also been hampered by accusations of Italian farmers dumping cheap tinned tomatoes in Australia thanks to EU subsidies. The EU commissioner would not comment on the dispute but said the EU no longer subsidised products directly but provided funding to farmers through their communities.

The Morrison government has been keen to push through as much of the deal as possible before it heads into the election but is running out of time before the April budget.

Mr Hogan said he was ready to work with whichever party won in May. "The EU is ready to do business,"he said.

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