From the Common Agricultural Policy to the Eurozone Crisis: Bilateral Disputes in the Australia–EU Relationship

ABSTRACT

Australia has historically focused on areas of disagreement with the European Union (EU) at the expense of establishing a more broad-based relationship. These areas of disagreement are the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), historically, and, to a lesser extent, the eurozone crisis. Criticism of the EU indicated the historical tendency of Australian governments to frame Europe as an actor behaving contrary to Australian interests. Australia’s historical antagonism towards the EU, however, runs counter to the current state of bilateral relations which are no longer focused on issues of disagreement. Evidence of this development is the recent completion of the treaty-level Framework Agreement in 2016 and the opening of free trade agreement negotiations in 2018. The Framework Agreement indicates Australia’s increased acknowledgement of the shared interests with the EU in areas such as foreign and security policy, trade, aid delivery, research and innovation, education and migration. Furthermore, a notable development has been that the EU is becoming an increasingly important interlocutor on issues relevant to Australian interests in the Asia-Pacific region. This article argues that although issues such as the CAP and the eurozone crisis still receive publicity they are not indicative of a bilateral relationship based on substantive broad-based cooperation.

KEYWORDS:

• Australia
• European Union
• Australia–European Union relations
• Common Agricultural Policy
• eurozone crisis
• Brexit

List of Officials Interviewed

Brendan Nelson interviewed by the author 8 August 2013.

Commission official 1 interviewed by the author 26 November 2012.

Commission official 2 interviewed by the author 21 November 2012.

Council secretariat official 1 interviewed by the author 23 November 2012.

DAFF official 1 interviewed by the author 7 August 2013.

DFAT official 1 interviewed by the author 24 July 2013.

DFAT official 2 interviewed by the author 12 November 2013.

DFAT official 3 interviewed by the author 12 November 2013.

EEAS official 1 interviewed by the author 23 November 2012.

EEAS official 2 interviewed by the author 13 November 2013.

Prime minister and cabinet officia1 1 interviewed by the author 6 August 2013.

Notes

1. For the purposes of consistency, the term EU is used in place of the European Economic Community (EEC) and European Community (EC).

2. Negotiations for this agreement, however, began under the Gillard government.

3. Twenty-six EU officials and 16 Australian officials have been interviewed as part of a PhD research project. All references and quotes from these interviews are listed only with the date on which they were conducted, owing to the need for anonymity.

4. Brendan Nelson when interviewed by the author also corroborated this fact.