The Pope’s inauguration might have provided a second blessing for Australia as the prime minister looks to seal a trade deal with European leaders.
Anthony Albanese met European Union President Ursula von der Leyen and other world leaders on the sidelines of Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration at the Vatican.
Australia and the EU are working to seal a free trade agreement and a defence pact.
Trade Minister Don Farrell will meet EU counterpart Maros Sefcovic on Tuesday.
Australia is pushing Europe to drop barriers preventing the importation of Australian beef and lamb and has offered scraping a luxury car tax to get the deal over the line.
There has also been movement on a previous hurdle over geographic indicators after the Europeans indicated a willingness to budge on the issue if the rest of the agreement is settled.
The indicators refer to to Australian producers using terms such as feta and prosecco when products didn’t come from specific European regions.
It paves the way for a possible resolution to the long-running dispute.
Senator Farrell said he was hopeful goodwill across the board would end the food fight but an agreement would only be signed if it was in Australia’s interests.
“We are after a realistic commercial offer in respect of access to beef and lamb into the European market,” Senator Farrell told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
As a bloc, the EU was Australia’s third-largest trading partner in 2022/23, with two-way trade valued about $110 billion.
The trade meeting will follow Mr Albanese’s one-on-one with Ms von der Leyen where she raised the idea of defence agreements between Australia and the trading bloc, similar to arrangements it has with Japan and South Korea.
Australia would consider the agreement, Mr Albanese said, but noted there was no detailed proposal and there were already similar pacts between Australia and European countries such as Germany.
Australia is looking to strike two agreements with Ukraine: one on security and one on the elimination of double taxation.
Both could be signed during a visit from Mr Albanese after he flagged a trip to Ukraine before his re-election.
Australian Abrams tanks are en route to Ukraine to help in its defence against Russia’s invasion.
Canberra and Kyiv are working together to get Australian Oscar Jenkins back from Russia, potentially through a prisoner swap, after he was sentenced to 13 years in a maximum-security prison for fighting for Ukraine.
The prime minister told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy Australia would continue to provide more military equipment as he pledged his support for Ukraine and again condemned Russia’s invasion.
The Ukrainian president called for more sanctions to be placed on Russia by countries such as Australia to maintain pressure on Moscow.
Mr Albanese also spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and UK Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner while in Rome.
Mr Albanese did not have a one-on-one meeting with US Vice President JD Vance, who also attended the inauguration.
Australia is at loggerheads with the Trump administration after it imposed a 10 per cent tariff on imports and 25 per cent on steel and aluminium, which the prime minister has rejected as unjust.
Australia has a critical mineral offer on the table that would shore up US supply chains as a bargaining chip to drop tariffs, but it hasn’t been accepted by the White House.
Mr Albanese spoke with Pope Leo XIV after his inauguration when world leaders were taken into the basilica to greet the pontiff.
The prime minister, who grew up Catholic, described it as a warm discussion where he told the Pope about his mother, who he said would be “looking down from heaven with the biggest smile she’s ever had”.
Australian Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national newswire and has been delivering accurate, reliable and fast news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We keep Australia informed.
