EU wants proposed cooperation pact tied to RP rights record
Philippine Daily Inquirer | 13 August 2007
EU wants proposed cooperation pact tied to RP rights record
By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — The European Union (EU) wants to tie development assistance and economic benefits under the proposed Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) with the Philippines with the latter’s records on human rights, rule of law, and democratization.
The EU is negotiating PCAs with individual member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a requisite of its negotiation for a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) with the regional bloc.
An official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), who asked not to be named, said the EU’s proposed measure is part of the dispute settlement mechanism of the PCA.
“If there are breaches on the core EU values of human rights, rule of law, and democratization, there would be withdrawal of economic benefits in the Philippines,” said the DFA official of the proposal.
Aside from its estimated €100-million in official development assistance (ODA) to the country, the EU also has separate technical assistance programs with partner non-government organizations (NGOs), mostly involved in pushing peace and development in Mindanao.
The diplomat admitted that given the country’s record of extrajudicial killings, the negotiating team is seriously concerned about whether the Philippines may qualify for a PCA agreement with EU.
“[But] we are still in an exploratory stage of negotiations for the PCA. We have not agreed yet on this unilateral measure of the EU,” he said.
So far, the EU has concluded PCAs with ASEAN members like Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand.
“If the Philippines fails to qualify for a PCA with [the] EU then it could not join in the free trade agreement being negotiated between the EU and ASEAN,” he said, when asked about the effect of this proposal.
The diplomat said the EU set the same conditions with Myanmar before it rejected dealing with the country.
The EU has a standing call for the democratization of Myanmar and the unconditional release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Formal negotiations for the comprehensive FTA between the EU and ASEAN economies started last May at the sidelines of the ASEAN economic ministers meeting in Brunei.
The PCA covers a range of areas like migration, human rights, development assistance, cooperation on the fight against terrorism, and good governance.
The comprehensive FTA between EU and ASEAN seeks to facilitate trade and investments between the two regional blocs by lifting all tariff and non-tariff barriers among their member-economies.
ASEAN groups the Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, while EU is composed of 27 countries that include the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, and The Netherlands.
