Gnáthchruinnithe

Meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, 21 March 2023

The last meeting of the Delegation for relations with Australia and New Zealand (DANZ) on 21 March 2023 was devoted to the debriefing and evaluation of the DANZ mission to Wellington and Christchurch 20-22 February 2023 and of the 27th EU/New Zealand Inter/Parliamentary Meeting.

Agenda of the meeting of 21 March 2023 (PDF - 187 KB)

Meeting in Brussels on Monday 6 February 2023

The meeting of the delegation for relations with Australia and New Zealand on Monday 6 February 2023 from 17.00-18.00 in ASP 1E1.

Ambassador Reaich from the Mission of New Zealand to the EU briefed the delegation ahead of the 27th EU-New Zealand IPM that took place in Wellington and Christchurch from 20-22 February.

Colleagues from the EEAS briefed the Members " in camera".

Meeting in Brussels on Monday 14 November 2022

Ambassador Caroline Millar, Mission of Australia to the EU, briefed Members ahead of the incoming 42nd EU-Australia IPM on 5 December. In a closed part of the meeting, an exchange of view with Philipp Gross the EEAS, Deputy Head of Division for Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific took place.

Meeting in Strasbourg Wednesday 8 June 2022

H.E Reaich and Reinhold Brender (EEAS) emphasised the active role of New Zealand in standing in support of Ukraine; for the first time in its story, New Zealand has imposed non-UN sanctions to a third country. EEAS stressed the three main priorities in bilateral relations: strengthening the alliance of democracies among like-minded countries, fight against climate change and FTA negotiations. H.E. Millar reported on some priorities of the new Albanese government in Canberra: more ambitious reduction of emissions, an assertive policy on China, more direct cooperation with the EU . Both New Zealand and Australia consider it a priority the conclusion of the FTA negotiations with the EU.

Meeting with the Speaker & members of the New Zealand Parliament Monday 30 May 2022

Both sides agreed - New Zealand & the EU are like-minded entities, sharing "the spiritual legacy to people affected by WW2". Sharing a "practical solidarity" with Ukraine. The NZ delegation was impressed by the overall consistency of the EU's response to the war, in spite of constraints in agreeing further sanctions and of pro-Russian counter-information spreading in some EUMS. MEPs presented the importance of the Green Deal & the two sides discussed cooperation on best legislation on sustainable energy and connectivity. Rt. Hon. Mallard with his colleagues stated that "the EU looks a miracle in current times, such a thoughtful organization with such a dedicated reflection on human rights"; that "We have to focus much more on political & value-based cooperation".

draft agenda for the meeting (PDF - 12 KB)

Meeting 10th May 2022 via Internet-Russia's war on Ukraine

Weapon on Ukrainian Flag — War Against Ukraine © Image used under the licence from Adobe Stock

Ulrike Müller, (DANZ Chair) summed up the main pillars of the EU actions on Ukraine: unanimous political support; sanctions packages; military support provided by several EUMS; first ever implementation of EU Protection Mechanism for the millions of Ukrainian refugees; The New Zealand side expressed its concern over security in Europe & possible direct impact on Indo-Pacific and insisted that NZ is very vocal in calling for full respect of International law & International Humanitarian law. Minister Twyford insisted on the need to fully activate the prerogatives of the International Criminal Court and to further strength sanctions against Russian interests and oligarchs.

MEPs and NZ members also shared their experiences on Russian propaganda.

draft minutes of the meeting 10 May (PDF - 20 KB)

High-level inter-parliamentary meeting on 30 March 2022 in Brussels

Vectorgraphic showing little boat with the Ukrainian flag approaching a big military ship with the Russian flag — © European Union (2022) - European Parliament

On 30 March 2022, the Delegation for the relations with Australia and New Zealand (DANZ), chaired by Ulrike Müller (DE, Renew) held an online high-level inter-parliamentary meeting fully dedicated to the response to the Russian aggression on Ukraine.

The meeting was co-chaired by Ulrike Müller (DE, Renew), Chair of DANZ, by the Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives, Andrew Wallace and by Heidi Hautala, Vice-President of the European Parliament.

It is of crucial importance that like-minded countries stand together with a coordinated approach in terms both of support to Ukraine and sanctions on Putin's Russia and of moral stand against violation of international law and respect of basic principles of freedom and sovereignty of independent nations.

On 14 March 2022 DANZ jointly with the Delegations for the relations with India and with Japan, organized a meeting on QUAD, the security dimension of the EU Indo-Pacific strategy and the impact of the war against Ukraine.

Meeting in Brussels on Monday 14 March 2022.

"The EU Indo-Pacific Strategy and the security implications of QUAD" — Joint Delegations - DANZ, JAPAN and INDIA © EP Photobookings 2022

The Joint meeting was held with all three Delegation Chairs and with Members from the Japan and India delegations. H.E. Ambassador Caroline Millar, Mission of Australia to the EU, H.E. Ambassador Santosh Jha, Mission of India to the EU and H.E. Ambassador Yasushi Masaki, Mission of Japan to the EU addressed the delegations on "The EU Indo-Pacific Strategy and the security implications of QUAD" engaging equally in outlining their main security concerns, while David McAllister, AFET Chair and SEDE rapporteur presented the main features of the SEDE report and of the security implications of the Indo-Pacific Strategy. The Delegation Chairs and Ambassadors look forward to the adoption by SEDE and then by Plenary of the McAllister report.

Meeting in Brussels Thursday 11 November 2021

The meeting took place on Thursday 11 November 14.00 - 15h30. Ambassador Reaich, opened by thanking the EU for being the only partner to give COVID vaccines to his country. The Ambassador, the EU Chief negotiator of EU/NZ FTA, Peter Berz, and the EU Head of Division for Asia/Pacific, Reinhold Brender all agreed that Bilateral relations are very solid. The Ambassador reaffirmed the words of the The Prime Minister " that the EU is a crucial partner". The EU Indo-Pacific Strategy provides a new instrument to cooperate with NZ, with an integrated approach of different policies such as trade, connectivity security, human security (including fight against the pandemic),& cybersecurity. The 25th EU-New Zealand Inter-parliamentary Meeting is due to be held on 2 December - by remote connection with Wellington.

Joint meeting in Brussels Thursday 22 April 2021 with Members of the D-JP and DKOR

The meeting entirely devoted to the EU Strategy on Indo-Pacific. Two speakers, Ambassador Jasper Wieck, Federal Foreign Office, Germany & Mr George Cunningham from EEAS, both crucial experts in shaping strategic options, represented the complimentary visions from M.S. & the EU. Ambassador Wieck presented the three German basic principles: Inclusiveness of the region; Diversification: Focusing on strengthening partnership with like-minded countries e.g.Australia, Japan, NZ; Rules-based Multilateralism; strategies to counteract any bi-polarity in the region. Mr Cunningham stressed main areas to work on: carbon emission, trade & economic relationships. He underlined the importance of human rights, security & military options for the EU in the region, notably ensuring maritime safety and free passage in order to safeguard the region's strategic autonomy. He recalled the next important steps and opportunities, especially the EU-India summit on the 8 May