The quotas are still being negotiated between Canberra and Brussels, the first person familiar with the talks said.
Von der Leyen will take the 20-hour-plus flight to Australia directly after she attends the Munich Security Conference, which takes place in the German city on Feb. 13-15, according to Australian digital newspaper The Nightly, which broke the news of the Commission chief’s four-day trip.
EU countries last December allowed the Commission to negotiate a defense deal with Australia. Sealing such a deal would come on the heels of security and defense partnerships signed with the U.K., Canada and most recently India.
An agreement with Australia would represent a win for the EU, as it would open access to the country’s vast reserves of strategic minerals. Australia is the world’s largest producer of lithium and also holds the world’s second-largest copper reserves.
Coming after the EU’s fraught Mercosur deal with South American countries — criticized by farmers, France and skeptical lawmakers — the pact with Canberra is expected to also trigger pushback due to its significant agricultural component.