EU seeks new defense agreement with Australia

European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium May 5, 2021. REUTERS/Yves Herman

SYDNEY, Australia — The European Union says it is seeking a defense partnership with Australia, as the bloc looks to forge a united international response to the Ukraine war and other global crises.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pointed to similar security agreements the bloc had inked with South Korea and Japan late last year.

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“We see you as a strategic partner,” she said during talks on Sunday with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Rome, where world leaders gathered following Pope Leo’s inaugural mass, according to a video she posted to social media.

“And we would very much like to broaden this strategic partnership.”

“We would be very pleased if we could develop such a security and defence partnership too,” she added, citing strained “geopolitical tensions.”

For his part, Albanese said Australia and the European Union continued to “stand together with the people of Ukraine.”

“We have common values as well, which in today’s uncertain world… is so important.”

The European Union has been racing to build new security ties as it confronts fears the United States may walk away from the continent under President Donald Trump.

In recent months, the bloc has courted India while signing defense agreements with South Korea and Japan — nations that lie far from its usual sphere of defense interests./mcm