The Diplomat
On October 21, the Framework Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, on the one hand, and Australia, on the other hand, will enter into force in general for Spain.
The agreement, signed in Manila on August 7, 2017 and ratified by Spain on September 3, 2018, aims to create a partnership and cooperation framework for bilateral relations between the European Union, its Member States and Australia, as well as to “strengthen their strategic relationship and intensify cooperation on a bilateral, regional and global scale, based on shared values and common interests,” according to the text published this past Tuesday in the Official State Gazette (BOE).
Within this framework, the objective of the agreement is to strengthen political ties and cooperation in foreign and security policy and in various areas such as humanitarian aid, justice, freedom and security or sustainable development, energy and transport. The Agreement also contains provisions on economic and trade matters, although there are no specific provisions on preferential access to each other’s markets, which would be the subject of a possible future EU-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
The EU and Australia formally institutionalized their diplomatic relations in 1962. Bilateral ministerial consultations have been held annually since 1976, alternately in Brussels and Canberra. Since 1981 there has been a European Commission Delegation in Canberra. To date, bilateral relations were governed by the Australia/EU Association Agreement, which included new areas of political cooperation, and which was signed on October 29, 2008 in Paris. The agreement signed in 2017, which will soon enter into force, represents an updated version of the framework agreement, which aims to strengthen ties and deepen relations.
Apart from that, the EU and Australia are engaged in negotiations to reach a Free Trade Agreement. In 2017, the process of studying chapters to be negotiated was completed, and in 2018 formal negotiations currently underway began. The EU, as a whole, is one of Australia’s main trading partners (second only to China), if trade in services is included, as well as its first investor.
