New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

(EU) have solid relations and increasingly see eye-to-eye on international issues. The EU-New Zealand relations are founded on a Joint Declaration on Relations and Cooperation, first agreed in 2007. It covers not just economic relations, but broader political issues and cooperation.New Zealand
European External Action Service The New Zealand Government maintains a delegation to the EU at its embassy in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. A Delegation of the European Union is located in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

History

The first political statement of cooperation between the EU and New Zealand dates back to 1999, with the signing of the Joint Declaration on Relations between the European Union and New Zealand. This has been replaced in 2007 by the Joint Declaration on Relations and Cooperation, an updated political declaration which governs and directs the activity between the two partners. The Declaration sets out a detailed action programme for the EU and New Zealand in such areas as global and regional security, counter-terrorism and human rights, development and economic cooperation, trade, climate change as well as science and technology. The EU and New Zealand have also negotiated a number of sectoral agreements designed to facilitate access to each other's markets and reduce exporters’ costs. Notable examples include agreements on veterinary standards, horizontal air transport services, and on mutual recognition of standards and certification. Senior officials' consultations on trade, agriculture, fisheries, and science & technology take place every year alternating between Brussels and Wellington. Consultations and information exchanges also take place in areas such as climate change, development assistance, and humanitarian aid. In October 2015, during

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

John Key Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th prime minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as leader of the National Party from 2006 to 2016. Following his father's death when ...

's visit to Brussels, European Union Council

President of the Council of the European Union The presidency of the Council of the European Union is responsible for the functioning of the Council of the European Union, which is the co-legislator of the EU legislature alongside the European Parliament. It rotates among the member state ...

President

Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk (born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician and historian who has served as the prime minister of Poland since 2023, previously holding the office from 2007 to 2014. Tusk served as the president of the European Council (20 ...

and

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Jean-Claude Juncker Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who was List of prime ministers of Luxembourg, prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and president of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also was List ...

announced with Prime Minister Key the launching of a process towards an EU-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement. Work is currently underway to prepare the negotiations. Since July 2012, New Zealand and the EU have been in negotiations for a first legally binding overarching political treaty, governing their overall relationship. Negotiations of this treaty—the Partnership Agreement on Relations and Cooperation (PARC)—have been concluded and the text was initialed in March 2015. The formal signing of the document took place on 5 October 2016 and was signed by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy / Vice-president of the European Commission,

Federica Mogherini Federica Mogherini (; born 16 June 1973) is an Italian politician who served as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. A member of the Democratic ...

, and then New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon

Murray McCully Murray Stuart McCully (born 19 February 1953) is a New Zealand former politician. He is a member of the National Party, and served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2008 to 2017. Early life Born in Whangārei, McCully was educated at Arap ...

. In January 2023, the EU ambassador to New Zealand, Nina Obermaier, expressed in an interview with

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand (), commonly known as RNZ or Radio NZ, is a New Zealand public service broadcaster and Crown entity. Established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995, it operates news and current affairs station, RNZ National, and a classi ...

that New Zealand could be part of the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

should enough domestic interest be shown. This would involve New Zealand becoming an associate member of the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

and requesting to field their own participants.

Trade

The EU is New Zealand's third-largest trading partner, after

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and New Zealand is the EU's 50th. New Zealand's exports are dominated by agricultural goods, while the EU's exports is dominated by manufactured goods. The stock of EU foreign direct investment in New Zealand is €10.9bn and the stock of New Zealand's investment in the EU is €5.6bn.Bilateral relations New Zealand
European Commission

EU-NZ free trade agreement

On 29 October 2015, New Zealand and the European Union concluded a Partnership Agreement on Relations and Cooperation to begin work on developing a

free trade agreement A free trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating state (polity), states. There are two types of trade agreements: Bilateralism, bilateral and Multilateralism, m ...

. In February 2016, the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

adopted a resolution on initiating free trade negotiations with both New Zealand and Australia. In April 2018, New Zealand Prime Minister

Jacinda Ardern Dame Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician and activist who was the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, leader of the Labour Party from 2017 to 2023. She was ...

lobbied for a free trade agreement with the European Union and received the backing of

French President The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the pos ...

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

. On 1 July 2022, both parties concluded negotiations for a free trade agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, all tariffs on European Union exports to New Zealand including agricultural and food products would be lifted. In return, duties would be lifted on 97% of New Zealand exports to the European Union; with over 91% being removed on the day that the free trade agreement comes into effect. In addition, tariffs were eliminated for most New Zealand horticultural products (including kiwifruits, wine, onions, apples, mānuka honey), all manufactured goods, and most seafood products. The free trade agreement would then be submitted to the

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...

, and

for approval. While New Zealand cheese producers would be able to continue using the names gouda,

mozzarella Mozzarella is a Types of cheese#Semi-soft cheese, semi-soft non-aged cheese prepared using the ('stretched-curd') method with origins from southern Italy. It is prepared with cow's milk or buffalo milk, taking the following names: * or mozz ...

haloumi Halloumi or haloumi is a cheese that originated in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is traditionally made from a mixture of goat milk and sheep's milk, and now, due to shortages, it increasingly contains cow's milk or milk from other animals such a ...

brie Brie ( ; ) is a soft cow's-milk cheese named after Brie (itself from Gaulish ''briga'', "hill, height"), the French region from which it originated (roughly corresponding to the modern of Seine-et-Marne). It is pale in colour with a slight gre ...

and

camembert Camembert ( , , ) is a moist, soft, creamy, surface-ripened cow's milk cheese. It was first made in the late 18th century in Camembert, Normandy, in northwest France. It is sometimes compared in look, taste and texture to brie cheese, albe ...

for their products, the use of the name

feta Feta ( ; ) is a Greek brined white cheese made from sheep milk or from a mixture of sheep and goat milk. It is soft, with small or no holes, and no skin. Crumbly with a slightly grainy texture, it is formed into large blocks and aged in brin ...

would be limited to Greek producers. As a result, New Zealand feta manufacturers would have to find a new name within nine years. On 9 July 2023,

Chris Hipkins Christopher John Hipkins (born 5 September 1978) is a New Zealand politician who has served as leader of the New Zealand Labour Party since January 2023 and leader of the Opposition (New Zealand), leader of the Opposition since November 2023. H ...

and

President of the European Commission The president of the European Commission, also known as president of the College of Commissioners is the Head of government, head of the European Commission, the Executive (government), executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president ...

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; ; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician, serving as president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding position ...

formally signed the New Zealand-European Union free trade agreement in

. While the FTA still awaited ratification by the European Parliament, farmers and some political groups in the European Parliament opposed the free trade agreement, however, European Union Ambassador to New Zealand Nina Obermaier confirmed that the 27 EU member states had consented to the FTA. On 23 November 2023, the European Parliament voted to ratify the NZ-EU free trade agreement by a majority of 524 votes. Trade Minister

Damien O'Connor Damien Peter O'Connor (born 16 January 1958) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician who served as Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Biosecurity, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Minister for Land Information and Minister for Rural ...

welcomed the ratification of the free trade agreement as "an important step towards the agreement entering into force." On 1 May 2024, the NZ-EU free trade agreement came into force, lifting 91% of tariffs on New Zealand exports to the European Union. This will rise to 97% after seven years.

New Zealand's foreign relations with EU member states

History

Trade

EU-NZ free trade agreement

New Zealand's foreign relations with EU member states

See also