National-level campaign tackles the proposed EU-ASEAN FTA
Institute for Popular Democracy (Philippines)
National-level campaign tackles the proposed EU-ASEAN FTA
Written by Malen Ibañez
Thursday, 03 May 2007
April 3, 2007 — A broad coalition composed of social movement groups and actors convened to gear up a country-level campaign that will expose and critique the neo-liberal framework that guides the entire free trade agreement (FTA) discourse, now being negotiated between the European Union (EU) and the 10-member ASEAN. With the two-year negotiations due to be launched in May 2007 during the Economic Ministers Meeting of ASEAN in Brunei, inter-regional actions and advocacy campaigns opposing this development are set to be initiated at the national/country level.
The Philippines strategizing meetings were convened and spearheaded by Asia-Europe People’s Forum (AEPF), Stop the New Round! Coalition and 11.11.11. The Philippines campaign shall carry out: capacity building on the complex issues of FTAs, generating support groups and constituency building; lobbying and engaging the government in the advocacy to block all FTAs; and illustrating impacts through popular education work.
The planning meeting was attended by: AEPF, Institute for Popular Democracy (IPD), PKMP, IDEALS, Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), Integrated Rural Development Foundation of the Philippines (IRDF), Asia Pacific Network on Food Sovereignty (APNFS), PANGISDA, Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA), WomanHealth, SANLAKAS, Kilusang Mangingisda (KM), Focus on the Global South, and 11.11.11-Pilipinas (as meeting host). More groups are expected to be joining this urgent call for an intensified campaign against the free trade agreements.
Statement of Concern and Call for Political Accountability
A prior capacity building and strategy meeting on the proposed FTA between EU-ASEAN was convened by the Asia-Europe People’s Forum (AEPF) and Stop the New Round Coalition! last March 13, 2007. This was attended by 35 participants from multi-sectoral groups, coalitions and NGOs, who committed to consolidate a two-year national campaign. The speakers include Prof. Alfredo Robles (DLSU), Frances Lo ( 11.11.11), Joseph Purugganan (SNR), Charles Santiago (Monitoring Sustainability of Globalization), Andy Rutherford (One World Action) and Tina Ebro of AEPF as facilitator.
The participants signified their support to the Statement of concern regarding the proposed EU-ASEAN free trade negotiations , where Civil society groups from both ASEAN and Europe demand that people’s needs and rights should be at the center of any economic development including trade arrangements. They are calling for political accountability on all economic decision-making process, which entails civil society participation.
Current players and timeframe of negotiations
A dialogue by advocacy groups led by AEPF and SNR was held with the European Commission Ambassador Alistair MacDonald informed, among other matters, on the timeframe (six negotiations per year) leading to the exchange of proposals between EU and ASEAN in September, 2007, towards making offers in November, 2007, and market access negotiations in January 2008. Meanwhile, the ASEAN Charter is expected to be approved in December 2007 during the ASEAN Summit in Singapore; the Charter is viewed to set the frame on how ASEAN will act as a bloc in negotiations such as FTAs, etc.
A dialogue with BITR Director Ramon Cabigting last April 3 revealed that DFA is so far the main government agency representing the Philippines in the discussions but Dir. Cabigting says this may change once the formal negotiations are underway, with each of the major themes assigned to various government agencies, e.g. NEDA for services, DTI for trade in goods, and so on.
