EU deepens ties with Canada, Australia and New Zealand through new partnership framework

Rather than pursuing full EU accession, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are being offered a novel “associate” relationship that links them more closely to European markets, research programmes and defence initiatives. Canada’s security and defence partnership, signed in June 2025, covers military mobility, cyber and hybrid threats, and it gained access to the EU’s joint procurement framework in June 2026, becoming the first non-European state to do so.

Australia signed a comparable security pact in March 2026, which also includes participation in EU-Australia free-trade talks and a prospective association with the Horizon Europe research programme. New Zealand’s engagement is at an earlier stage, with a high-level security dialogue held in Wellington in May 2026 that addressed maritime, cyber and space security among other topics. The EU sees these arrangements as a way to secure critical raw materials, diversify supply chains and bolster its own defence industry, while the three partners gain deeper access to the EU’s large market and innovation ecosystem.