Brussels has used talks with ASEAN foreign ministers in Brunei to frame freedom of navigation as a shared European and Asian interest, as disruption around the Strait of Hormuz adds pressure to energy prices, shipping routes and wider diplomatic efforts in the Middle East.
The European Union has linked disruption around the Strait of Hormuz to wider risks for Europe and Asia, warning that freedom of navigation must remain protected as the Middle East conflict continues to affect energy prices and commercial shipping.
Speaking in Brunei at the 25th ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the situation in the Middle East showed that countries could not afford to “stand alone” in the current global environment. She said higher energy prices were affecting both Europe and Asia, and that freedom of navigation should not be allowed to become conditional or contested.
Her remarks came as the EU and ASEAN concluded their ministerial meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan, where foreign ministers adopted a joint statement covering regional stability, trade, maritime security, cyber security and the rules-based international order. The meeting was held on 27 and 28 April and co-chaired by Brunei’s Minister of Foreign Affairs II, Erywan Pehin Yusof, and Kallas.
The immediate significance lies in the way Brussels is placing maritime security within its broader external policy agenda. Hormuz is not only a Middle Eastern flashpoint. It is a strategic waterway whose disruption affects energy supply, insurance costs, shipping patterns and industrial competitiveness far beyond the Gulf. For Europe, the issue connects directly to inflationary pressure, energy security and trade with Asian partners.
The same message was visible in New York, where the UN Security Council heard calls on 27 April for the restoration of freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. The UN discussion underlined the international character of the crisis, with the dispute no longer confined to regional actors or bilateral confrontation.
For the EU, the Brunei meeting offered a diplomatic platform to connect that concern with relations in the Indo-Pacific. Kallas said the EU and ASEAN had a common interest in regional stability and the rules-based international order. She identified maritime security, counter-terrorism and cyber defence as areas where cooperation could deepen, while noting that such work would have to respect ASEAN’s principles of neutrality and consensus.
That qualification is significant. ASEAN members do not share a single position on all security questions and are generally cautious about being drawn into great-power confrontation. The EU, therefore, is not presenting the partnership as an alliance structure, but as a practical framework for resilience, infrastructure protection and safer maritime routes.
The economic context is also central. Kallas said bilateral EU-ASEAN trade stood at around €400 billion in 2024, making ASEAN the EU’s third-largest trading partner outside Europe, while the EU is ASEAN’s third-largest partner globally. That level of trade makes maritime disruption a direct concern for both sides, particularly where energy, raw materials and manufactured goods depend on predictable sea routes.
The EU is also using its Global Gateway strategy to give the partnership a security dimension. In Brunei, Kallas referred to coast guard training, protection of critical and maritime infrastructure, action against transnational crime, and possible closer cooperation with ASEAN navies in the Indo-Pacific. These are not abstract priorities. Undersea cables, ports, energy infrastructure and maritime logistics have become central to economic security.
The Hormuz crisis also strengthens the EU’s case for diversification. In response to a question about interest among some ASEAN countries in buying Russian oil, Kallas linked current energy pressures to Russia’s oil revenues and said Europe’s message to partners was to diversify resources away from Russia. That argument joins two separate theatres — Ukraine and the Gulf — through the single issue of energy dependence.
The Brunei meeting does not resolve the Hormuz crisis, nor does it create a new EU-ASEAN security pact. Its importance is more practical: it shows the EU trying to build a common language with Asian partners around maritime stability, infrastructure protection and trade continuity at a time when disruption in one region can quickly affect markets in another.
The next marker will be whether the language adopted in Brunei is followed by more concrete cooperation before the EU-ASEAN 50th anniversary summit next year. For now, Brussels has made clear that freedom of navigation is no longer being treated as a distant maritime principle, but as an economic-security requirement for both Europe and Asia.
