Nové jevy ve vztazích EU a Austrálie - Nového Zélandu na začátku 3. tisíciletí

The goal of the thesis "New phenomena in the relations between the EU and Australia New Zealand at the beginning of the third millennium" is to analyze mutual trade and economic relations in the context of new phenomena in regionalism, represented here mostly by bi-regionalism and trans-regionalism. The first part of the thesis characterizes economic positions of EU, Australia and New Zealand in the global economy and emphasizes their historical and societal ties. The second part of the thesis elaborates on the development of mutual relations between the EU Australia and EU New Zealand. In particular it sums up the process of deepening of their cooperation up to the current association of equal partners. This is illustrated by existing legal basis of the relations and the current trade exchange data. The focal point of the thesis is the possibility of further intensification of mutual cooperation, especially through conclusion of a preferential agreement that would remove remaining trade barriers between the EU and Australia New Zealand. In the context of the new phenomena in regionalism, any type of preferential agreement would have potential to foster their relationships as well as bring positive impact to process of multilateral liberalization. The issue of preferential agreement is therefore considered in the light of the steadily rising importance of the Asia-Pacific region. While Australia and New Zealand have concluded an agreement on a free trade zone with ASEAN, negotiations with the EU have been suspended. The thesis confirms one of its main hypothesis, marking their different approaches to agricultural policy as the main obstacle to concluding of a free trade agreement between the EU and Australia New Zealand. Based on the findings, the thesis concludes by outlining several scenarios of possible future development of mutual relations and their positive and negative aspects.