Europe's new base in Sydney

Europe Business Review, March, 2000

The Australian office of the European Commission, located in Canberra far from Australian business, has reduced its isolation by gaining a platform in Sydney, the national commercial and financial capital.

The EC delegation, headed by Ambassador Aneurin Hughes, has supported the recent formation of the European Australian Business Council (EABC) and Ambassador Hughes was the key speaker at the Sydney launch of the Council.

Successive EC ambassadors in Australia have vainly lobbied their Brussels headquarters to open a branch office in Sydney or Melbourne to give better access to business. Ambassador Hughes, a tireless traveller and speaker, has dealt with the Canberra syndrome for four years by getting out of the capital as often as diplomacy allows to meet business leaders in the major Australian cities.

The EC is the executive arm of the European Union and its overseas office are the EUis diplomatic service. An EC ambassador thus represents 15 governments, or at least their common viewpoint on trade policy.

This can have implications because EU members also have their own ambassadors around the world, including Australia, and sometimes bilateral diplomacy bumps into multilateral lobbying.

This is a fact of life which EABC will also have to cope with. Twelve EU members have chambers of commerce in Australia, with the biggest branches in Sydney.

The chambers vigorously pursue their own national and bi-lateral interests - which is what their governments pay them, and press them, to do. The chambers are under the watchful eyes of their national ambassadors and trade commissioners.

So the new EABC will be a second priority for the European Chambers. Nevertheless, the Council will find useful things to do. A united front, or a chorus of complaints or questions, is more effective on occasion than lone or competing voices.

The EABC, which is supported by the European Commission, defines itself as "a national body established to promote the business interests of the member countries of the EU which are also represented by Chambers of Commerce and industry or other business/trade associations".

Founding members and associate members of the EABC have worked for some years to present a cohesive European front to the Australian business community and to increase the opportunities for close business ties between Australia and Europe.

The foundation full members of the EABC are:

* Austrian Foreign Trade Office

* Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce for Australia

* Australian British Chamber of Commerce

* Finland Foreign Trade Association

* French Chamber of Commerce and Industry

* German-Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce

* Hellenic Chamber of Commerce in Australia Ltd

* Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry

* Irish Trade Board

* Australian Netherlands Chamber of Commerce

* Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Australia Inc

* Swedish Chamber of Commerce

* The Swiss Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is an associate member of the Council.