Parlamentközi ülések

On 27-29 October 2025, the Delegation for relations with Australia and New Zealand paid a visit to Sydney and Canberra under the leadership of Chair Seán Kelly. Composed by five Members from five political groups, the Delegation held with the counterpart the 44th EU-Australia Inter-Parliamentary Meeting, and had several meetings with Ministers, university researchers, teachers and students, and with the business community. A special focus of the Delegation was on the negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement, a crucial step not only in the bilateral relations, as well as on reaffirm the role of like-minded democracies to support the respect of international law, free trade and the multilateral approach to global challenges.

The 29th EU-New Zealand took place in Wellington on 23 July 2025, under the co-chairmanship of Mr Seán Kelly (EPP, Ireland) - Chair of the Delegation for relations with Australia and New Zealand. A six MEPs delegation traveled to this strong ally of Europe and from 21 to 23 July also met several local interlocutors - students, government, EU diplomats, researches, EU migrants to the country and many others. The discussions focused on the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement, on the situation in the Pacific, on the strengthening of the people-to-people connections, and on the role of democracies in changing international scenario.

The 43rd Australia-EU Inter-Parliamentary Meeting (IPM) took place on 2 December 2024 in Brussels, co-chaired by DANZ Chair, Mr Seán Kelly (EPP, Ireland) and Hon Anne Stanley MP, leading the Delegation from the Australian Parliament. While security is further degenerating in the Pacific as well as in Europe and Middle East, democracies are urged to further enhance cooperation to defend freedoms, multilateralism and peace based on justice. In this challenging context, the parliaments of Australia and of the European Union discussed a wide range of crucial topics, including Ukraine and Taiwan, China and climate change, connectivity and rules based trade.

The 28th EU-New Zealand Inter-Parliamentary Meeting (IPM) took place in Brussels on Thursday, 17 October 2024. The Inter-Parliamentary Meeting was be co-chaired by DANZ Chair, Mr Seán Kelly (EPP, Ireland) and Hon Rachel Brooking MP, Co-Chair of the New Zealand Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group-Europe.

Some topics of discussion included: political, security and economic developments in the European Union and in New Zealand, including the implications related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. State of the EU/New Zealand cooperation, with focus on: EU and New Zealand role in the Pacific, trade and economic relations and implementation of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and digital transformation and fight against climate change.