About


About the project

After decades of tension and conflict, Australia’s relationship with the European Union (EU) has reached a milestone. The new engagement is comprehensive, reflecting an Australian all-of-government commitment to work with the EU, its institutions and member states. With the multi-faceted Framework Agreement coming into force provisionally in 2018, this treaty level relationship constitutes a priority engagement. It is expected to strengthen EU-Australia actions and interests on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues. Yet significant challenges place the relationship at a critical juncture. Faced with Brexit, continued uncertainty surrounding the United States’ international role, and increasing regional and global instability, Australia and the EU are seeking to enhance cooperation to tackle these challenges.

This project has conducted an examination of relations between Australia and the EU. It identified opportunities for this engagement to further develop around a range of policies and forums. It examined the dialogue and negotiation of key agreements and policy engagement (including multilateral and regional cooperation, security, trade, refugee flows) especially within the Asia-Pacific/Indo Pacific. It assessed the implications of the Framework Agreement and the negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement.

The project’s research findings have been disseminated at numerous conferences, seminars and workshops in both Australia and Europe. TANPEAR has held a series of events as part of this project, where scholars, policy makers, and representatives of industry and civil society discussed key issues in the relationship. A substantial number of publications has been produced. Additional research outputs will be published over the next few years. Three key publications the of TANPEAR team are:

A selection of publications is presented below:

The full list is available at on the publications page.

The project team consists of Professor Philomena Murray (Jean Monnet Chair ad personam) and Dr Margherita Matera, both from the School of Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of Arts at The University of Melbourne.

The project is funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ Programme - Jean Monnet Activities (587060-EPP-1-2017-EU-EPPJMO-PROJECT) and The University of Melbourne.


Co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union