Australia as an EU Partner

The European Parliament has recently given a green light to the proposed European Union (EU) – Australia trade agreement, setting guidelines for trade talks. In his State of the Union Address on 13 September 2017, the European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker began by reaffirming the EU’s openness to business and then stated “[t]oday, we are proposing to open trade negotiations with Australia and New Zealand.” (emphasis in the official printed version). This proposal has been previously embraced by Australia, and a framework agreement was signed in August.