Overview EU-Australia relations

1. The political basis

The EU-Australia Partnership Framework was officially adopted by the EU-Australia Foreign Ministers’ Troika in Paris on 29 October 2008. This new, well balanced, modern and flexible document forms the basis for the bilateral relationship in the years to come. It has the status of a political declaration, not of an international agreement. It replaces and merges the 1997 Joint Declaration on relations between Australia and the European Union [45 KB] , and the 2003 Agenda for Cooperation [29 KB] .

2. The framework for consultations and dialogue

The new Partnership document provides the framework for arrangements for Ministerial and officials-level dialogue on key bilateral and international political, economic and trade issues. Besides this, there are also regular senior-level contacts in the margins of international meetings and fora.

• The two sides aim to hold annual EU-Australia Ministerial Troika Consultations in the capital of the EU Member State holding the Presidency.  These focus in particular on foreign policy and international security issues.  There are also annual Australia-EU Troika Expert Meetings focusing specifically on regional issues in Asia and Oceania.
• The European Commission also holds regular discussions with the Australian government at various levels and in various fora, mostly on an annual basis:  EC-Australia Ministerial Consultations; EC-Australia Senior Officials Meetings, alternating between Brussels and Canberra; EC-Australia Trade Policy Dialogues and EC-Australia Agricultural Trade & Marketing Experts Meetings; EC-Australia Joint Science and Technology Cooperation Committee; High Level Dialogue on Environment; Senior Officials dialogue on migration and asylum; etc. 
• Inter-parliamentary visits take place approximately every 12 to 18 months with alternating visits between the European Parliament’s Australia/New Zealand Delegation and the Australian Parliament.

3. The main areas for cooperation

a) Political relations

The EU and Australia share many common views in the field of foreign and security policy and see eye-to-eye on many international issues.

The Partnership Framework underlines the EU’s and Australia’s commitment to enhanced cooperation in international fora to support common goals such as further multilateral trade liberalisation and the international promotion and protection of human rights. The two sides have an established record of international cooperation on human rights in UN bodies.

The EU and Australia want to further solidify cooperation in Asia and in the Pacific Region and continue to share analysis and respective strategies with the aim of promoting peace, stability and prosperity in that part of the world. EU and Australia are supporting regional integration in South East Asia and are actively participating in the ASEAN Regional Forum.

b) Economic relations

The EU is Australia's main trading partner.  Trade between the two continues to grow steadily.

Trade in goods

The EU is Australia's single largest trading partner, resulting in 2007 in a total trade of € 38 783 mio (or 17.5% of its trade).  Australian exports to the EU are mainly agricultural products (notably wine), but also mineral and energy commodities (non-monetary gold, coal, iron), and machinery and transport material, chemical products, wool and textiles. EU products exported to Australia comprise mostly medicines, motor vehicles, machinery, telecommunication equipment, and paperboard.

Trade in services

The service sector accounts for around 70% of the Australian GDP. Total trade in services with the EU - which is Australia’s most important partner in this field - has grown on average by over 9% per year over the last decade.  EU cross-border exports of services to Australia amounted to approximately € 9000 mio in 2006 and imports to approximately € 6.100 mio. Total trade in services represents approximately 30% of total trade between Australia and the EU. Main items of EU services exports cover transportation and travel, but other business services, financial services and computer services exports have also increased significantly in recent years.

Investment

The EU is the leading foreign investor in Australia with EU FDI stocks amounting to € 50.6 bn in 2006. A 2006 survey of EU companies in Australia found that there were approximately 2.300 EU companies with a presence in Australia, with a total estimated turnover of $A180bn.  The EU is the second main destination for Australian overseas investments.

See also:

• EU-Australia trade relations

c) Sectoral Cooperation

There is active cooperation in a broad range of sectors.  Some specific examples include:

Science and Technology

Australia and the EU are committed to build on their Science and Technology Agreement, developing an innovation, science and research partnership to create new opportunities for collaboration. The Forum for Europe-Australia Science and Technology Cooperation (FEAST) project continues to promote effectively the interaction between the EU and Australian research communities.

Education cooperation

The EU and Australia have collaborated for many years on education through joint mobility projects and initiatives such as the EU Centres (see below). That commitment to collaboration was renewed in a Joint Declaration on Cooperation in Education and Training [141 KB] signed in 2007.

As a result of the April 2008 call for proposals under the Industrialised Countries Instrument (see point 5.), five new joint EU-Australia projects were added to the seven joint projects already implemented since 2002. Discussions have also started to identify strategic issues of common interest that will form the subject of soon to be launched policy dialogues. 

EU centres at Australian universities

The EU is currently co-funding three centres at Australian universities to promote the study of the EU, to increase the understanding of the EU in Australia, to highlight the EU-Australia relationship and to encourage and stimulate greater interest in EU affairs across schools, government, industry, academia, the media and the public at large.

The three centres are the National Europe Centre (NEC) at the Australian National University; the Monash European and EU Centre (MEEUC) at Monash University; and the Innovative Universities European Union Centre (IUEUC), a network encompassing La Trobe, Macquarie, Newcastle, Flinders, Murdoch and Griffith Universities.

Total EU investment in the three centres amounts to €2.5M over 3 years.

See also:

• European Union Centres

Development assistancein the Pacific

Reciprocal visits by senior officials dealing with development assistance provide a basis for ongoing cooperation. Most recently a trilateral EU-Australia-New Zealand meeting on the Pacific was held in Canberra.

Counter terrorism, the fight against organised crime and the promotion of inter-faith dialogue

The EU’s Counter-Terrorism coordinator meets with his Australian counterpart to discuss possible areas for closer coordination and cooperation. The EU is already cooperating with Australia on a number of regional projects or processes relevant for the fight against terrorism and organised crime in South-East Asia.  These include the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation and the Bali Process on combating human trafficking.

An Australia-Europol Agreement was signed on 20 February 2007.

A first EU-Australia Regional Youth Interfaith Forum was held in Perth, Australia, on 6 December 2007, and a second forum is scheduled for mid-2009 in Europe.

Visa reciprocity

On 27 October 2008, Australia launched a new visa platform (eVisitors) which no longer makes any distinction between citizens of those Member States which joined the EU on 1 January 2004 or later, and those of other EU Member States.

4. Agreements concluded with Australia

For full details of agreements concluded with Australia search in the European Commission’s Treaties Office database.

5. Cooperation under the Industrialised Countries Instrument

Council Regulation (EC) n° 1934/2006 (the Industrialised Countries Instrument (ICI)), is the legal instrument for cooperation with Australia and other industrialised and high-income countries and territories in North America, Asia-Pacific and in the Gulf Region, during the financial period 2007-2013.

The actions foreseen under the ICI provide support to strategic objectives of the Community’s external actions toward industrialised countries: intensification of political cooperation, advancement of EU economic interests, enhancement of global networking, and awareness of the European Union.

The specific actions to be carried out under the budgets 2007-2010 are organised around three main priority areas: public diplomacy and outreach, economic partnership and business cooperation, and people-to-people links.