Death penalty not a hindrance to Phl-EU ties, says diplomat

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines risks losing its Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) privileges with the European Union (EU) should the country decide to reimpose the death penalty, but not the friendship and support it has been receiving from the economic bloc, EU Ambassador to the Philippines Franz Jessen said yesterday.

Jessen said the planned revival of death penalty is among the considerations in the review of the country’s GSP+ status.

 “Yes (it is one of the things being considered), but so far nothing has changed on capital punishment. That’s part of the regular monitoring and we will not preempt it,” he said.

 “The view of the EU on capital punishment is very clear. We do not support of course. To be an EU member you have to abolish capital punishment, it’s something that we have strong views on,” Jessen added.

The EU’s top envoy, however, said whatever decision the Philippines comes up with on death penalty would not affect the strong partnership and friendship between the country and the 28-member economic bloc.

 “On capital punishment, some of our closest allies have capital punishment and we work hand in hand with them too as you know. So it is something we have very strong views in Europe. We try to promote that outside Europe too, but of course we work together with all our partners,” Jessen said.

The Philippines was granted beneficiary country status under the EU-GSP+ in December 2014, allowing it to export 6,274 eligible products duty-free to the EU market.

The country’s beneficiary status under the GSP+, however, necessitates the implementation of the 27 international treaties and conventions on human rights, labor rights, environment and governance.

With the proposal to revive the death penalty for certain heinous crimes, the Philippines puts at risk the GSP+ status it currently enjoys with the EU.

Prior to the proposed revival of death penalty wherein President Duterte threatened to execute criminals daily, the Commission on Human Rights has also warned the government about its war on drugs and the alleged cases of extrajudicial killings, saying these may put in danger the country’s privileges under the EU-GSP+.

Jessen said an EU monitoring team for the GSP+ would visit the country later this month.

 “We have an ongoing monitoring of the 27 conventions and that work is ongoing and I would not predict how will that come out in the end,” he said.

 “It’s a very long term process. People will come out here, they will look at the situation, talk with the different actors in the Philippines, and they would do their reports and they will come out gain. Probably by the end of the year (an assessment report will come out) but there’s no firm timetable for that,” Jessen added.

Aside from enjoying EU GSP+ benefits, the Philippines at present is working on a free trade agreement with the EU, in which a second round of negotiations is set next month.

The negotiations aim to conclude a deal that covers a broad range of issues such as elimination of customs duties and other barriers to trade, services and investment, access to public procurement markets, and additional disciplines in the area of competition and protection of intellectual property rights.

 “In the economic front, the EU-Philippine FTA is an important step forward in our economic relationship. We’ll be looking forward to a second round of negotiations here in February. It is important to have the institutional structure so that trade could grow faster. We hope the next round in Manila would be successful and we would get the right political push,” Jessen said.