NZ Foreign Policy: McCully Lobbies ForAn EU Partnership
January 21st, 2010
Foreign Minister Murray McCully is heading back to Scandinavia, and Russia. Sweden currently holds the EU Presidency, and McCully is pursuing the process agreed by President Barroso and John Key earlier this year to take discussions of an EU/NZ comprehensive partnership agreement to the next stage. For reasons of geography NZ is both part of Asia and part of the Pacific, but McCully says equally there is part of the NZ entity which is European. Besides, Europe is NZ’s second largest trading partner, behind Aust, though China is closing fast. NZ is founded very firmly on principles of democracy, the rule of law, and human rights, which are the hallmark of the EU. So NZ is engaged along with the EU Commission and its friends in Europe, in exploring a CPA. McCully recognises some EU members may have concerns over granting freer trade access, which must be part of a CPA. He told a Berlin audience last week he is confident challenges over trade issues can be resolved over time. A CPA can add value to both parties as well as contemporary impetus and depth to a relationship of long standing. So a year of lobbying European capitals lies ahead.
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Duncan Cotterill