Successes and challenges for the EU this festive season

The festive season always brings a feeling of merriment, hope, light, and joy and an occasion to remember the many glittering milestones we saw during the year, and to welcome a new year with the hope of many more and better things to come. 

The year 2017 has been an intensive, interesting and rewarding year. Our high-level exchange was particularly intensive, as the EU participated in a number of ASEAN meetings under the able chairmanship of the Philippines.

One highlight of the year was the visit of European Council President Donald Tusk, who came to Manila as guest of the Chair to attend the East Asia Summit in November, and to co-chair with President Duterte the EU-ASEAN Commemorative Summit, which celebrated 40 years of diplomatic relations between EU and the ASEAN.

President Tusk underscored the importance of the ASEAN for the EU: “We are working towards a Strategic Partnership, to encompass not only trade, investment and sectoral cooperation, but also more security cooperation.” The EU adheres to a strong ASEAN and shared values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.  

In August, the High Representative and Vice-President Federica Mogherini participated in the ASEAN Summit for foreign ministers in Manila, and she also emphasized how significant ASEAN is for the EU, underlining the importance of closer cooperation in all fields, including security: “We are making our European Union stronger in the field of security and defense, and, second, we are making our partnership with ASEAN even closer and more operational” said Mogherini at the Summit.

Together with the ASEAN Ministers, the EU HRVP committed to intensify work towards the conclusion of ASEAN-EU Free Trade Agreement and ASEAN-EU Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement - the first ever region to region agreement.

During the Summit, the EU and ASEAN also reaffirmed their full commitment to the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement, consistent with the broader outcomes of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Trade is an important component in any bilateral relationship. Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström attended the EU-ASEAN Business Summit in March, where she and her ASEAN colleagues agreed on the next steps towards the resumption of the EU-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement negotiations and gave their commitment to develop a framework encompassing the parameters of a future FTA.   

But we also had a number of bilateral exchanges, which contributed to moving the EU-Philippines relationship forward. Throughout the year, several meetings were held with different business groups from the government and the private sector from both the EU and the Philippines, with the goal of strengthening bilateral trade and investments, including in areas of customs and public services advocacies as well as in providing opportunities to hasten “Doing Business with Europe.”

Members of the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights visited the Philippines in July and held a series of important discussions. The EU and the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights met in Bohol in November for the 2nd ASEAN-EU Policy Dialogue on Human Rights. The dialogue was co-chaired on the EU side by Mr Stavros Lambrinidis, EU Special Representative for Human Rights. The two sides expressed their commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the international human rights instruments. Prior to the dialogue, EUSR Lambrinidis held a series of meetings with Philippine counterparts in Manila, in order to get a fuller understanding about developments in the Philippines.

Another highlight of the year was the 9th EU-Philippines Senior Officials’ Meeting, held in July in Manila. The SOM is a regular dialogue, held on state secretary level, where all bilateral issues between the EU and the Philippines are on the table. I participated in the SOM, where both sides exchanged views on political and economic developments in the Philippines and the EU. The SOM this year concluded with a meeting with Foreign Secretary Cayetano, and we were at the meeting table to inform of the decision to provide – through the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations – P49 million in emergency assistance to support the civilian population affected by the events in Marawi.

There were also high-level visits from the Philippines to Brussels and the EU headquarters. The Presidential adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza informed about the status of the peace talks in a visit to Brussels in the spring, and DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez together with the Special Envoy to the EU, former Senator Edgardo Angara came to Brussels in September for talks on trade-related matters, including the GSP+.

In October, we organized a study tour for MILF and MNLF leaders, and youth, women and IP representatives to Berlin and Brussels. One of the main objectives was to introduce to the group experiences about federalism in the perspective of the peace process in Mindanao. In December, we organized a visit to Brussels for a group of Filipino journalists, in order for them to meet the various EU institutions more directly, and to help widen the understanding of the EU in the Philippines. Visits like these are important to foster mutual understanding and respect.

Our development cooperation with the Philippines continues. In the beginning of the year, we launched a P850 million program to help hasten the coordination in the justice sector and to improve the delivery of criminal justice in the Philippines. Named the Justice Sector Reform Program: Governance in Justice, or GOJUST for short, the program aims to strengthen rule of law and ensure sustainability of program interventions through recommendations for legislative, regulatory and procedural reforms in the criminal justice system.

The EU has also been collaborating with the Philippines in helping the country achieve its electrification targets and in promoting renewable energy which are crucial to addressing the global challenge of climate change. In the coming year, emphasis is still placed on Mindanao where the EU supports the peace process as well as sustainable community development. We are ready to offer considerable support to Mindanao, and are working out the details in cooperation with the Government.

The EU’s cooperation programs with the Philippines, which amounts to €340 million for the period 2014-2020, are defined together with Government and according to its priorities to provide Filipino people with support for creation of more and better jobs, increased access to renewable energy, peace and development in Mindanao, improved justice system and access to healthcare. During the year there has been much talk about ‘conditionality’ of EU assistance.  And yes, obviously the EU had conditions as regards to how grants are spent, one example is that we explicitly has requirements with respect to (the absence of) corruption in EU grants. Obviously none of the “conditions” prevent nor do they prevent the Philippines from having an ‘independent foreign policy’ nor do they ‘interfere’ in domestic policies. In fact the activities under discussion have always been conducted hand in hand with the relevant government authorities.

Within the areas of culture and public diplomacy, the Cine Europa film festival, which has become the largest and oldest running festival in the country, saw its 20th edition this year and reached audiences of more than 50,000 persons all over the country. We again held the European Higher Education Fair where Filipino students could meet directly with a large number of higher education institutions, including some of the best European universities. This year 34 Filipino students begun on Master or PhD studies in Europe, fully funded under the Erasmus+ program. And we launched a series of cultural symposia on literature, visual arts, architecture and film; initiatives to further strengthen people-to-people links and mutual understanding. 

One thing that did not happen in 2017, but which we anticipate for early 2018, was the ratification of the EU-Philippines Partnership and Cooperation Agreement by the Senate. It has gone through a first reading, but since the Senate had to debate the tax reform and other burning issues, the second and third reading has been deferred to January when the Congress is back in session. The PCA will serve as a general framework to allow better collaboration between the EU and the Philippines in a number of crucial areas, and political, economic and development issues. Once in place, the PCA will constitute a key development and a major step forward in the EU-Philippines relationship.

A central task for next year is therefore to get this framework effectively operational. From our side, we will do what we can to keep the relationship with the Philippines in high gear.

Sadly, at the end of the year we witnessed a number of disasters in the Philippines, and I would like to offer my condolences to the families who have lost loved ones. 

At the time of this writing the EU’s humanitarian arm is on its way to Mindanao to see how the EU can assist the authorities to overcome the effects of typhoon Vinta.

With that I wish everyone a Happy New Year which will bring peace, prosperity and happiness.