Philippines and EU restore relations regardless of human rights considerations

Written by David Hutt
Firebrand President Rodrigo Duterte has cooled off his rhetoric focusing on the European Union and a brand new cooperation settlement is on the desk. However, Duterte’s authoritarian tendencies loom within the background.
The Philippines’ uproarious president, Rodrigo Duterte, has had a contentious relationship with the European Union.
In 2017, he referred to EU officers as “stupid European Union guys,” whereas threatening to reject all European support, although the EU was one of many Philippines’ largest suppliers of improvement help.
He additionally threatened to expel all European diplomats inside 24 hours after Brussels criticized main human rights abuses dedicated by his authorities.
“You give us money then you start to orchestrate what things should be done and which should not happen in our country,” he mentioned in October 2017. His fury has intermittently flared over the next years.
At the start of February 2021, it appeared like enterprise as ordinary when Duterte as soon as once more lashed out on the EU for allegedly holding up deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines, which has been among the many slowest international locations in Southeast Asia to launch a vaccination marketing campaign.
Weeks later, nevertheless, Duterte expressed enthusiasm for nearer cooperation with Brussels. “The Philippines and the EU share a deep respect for democracy and the rule of law,” he uncharacteristically mentioned.
Progress in EU-Philippines relations
There has not simply been a change in tone from Duterte but additionally main institutional progress. The EU-Philippines Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) got here into impact in 2018 however stalled over disputes between Brussels and Manila, in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the PCA’s first subcommittee on commerce and financial cooperation met just about on the finish of January, whereas the primary subcommittee on “Good Governance, Rule of Law and Human Rights” happened per week later, on February 5.
A reset to relations seemingly started with the arrival in December of the brand new EU ambassador to the Philippines, Luc Veron, who introduced his credentials to Duterte on February 10.
“The Philippines and the European Union have enjoyed diplomatic relations over six decades,” Veron advised DW. “Our shared interests and values are a strong basis for a partnership based on respect and mutual benefit. In the European Union, the Philippines and the Filipinos have a strong and reliable partner.”
Human rights considerations
Richard Heydarian, an instructional, columnist and writer of The Rise of Duterte: A Populist Revolt Against Elite Democracy, mentioned the EU turned a handy “punching bag” for Duterte throughout his earlier years in workplace.
Unlike the US, which Duterte additionally harangued in expletive-filled monologues however then rapidly talked down his feedback, Brussels has little geopolitical significance within the Philippines.
The European Parliament and the previous EU ambassador to Manila, Franz Jessen, who left in 2019, have regularly adopted very robust language in opposition to Duterte’s administration, particularly its “war on drugs” that has led to at the least 7,000 deaths since 2016, many the results of extrajudicial killings by the police or navy.
Duterte’s autocratic-leaning administration has restricted free-speech and detained distinguished journalists, together with the editor Maria Ressa, who was charged and located responsible of “cyberlibel” final 12 months.
Leading opposition politicians have additionally been imprisoned on trumped-up costs. Senator Leila de Lima was jailed in 2017 on spurious drug-related costs after beginning a Senate investigation in extrajudicial killings.
In September final 12 months, the European Parliament adopted a movement calling on the Commission to quickly kick the Philippines out of the preferential GSP+ commerce scheme over its human rights violations, particularly the legal costs in opposition to Ressa.
The incontrovertible fact that the Philippines didn’t lose its GSP+ standing final 12 months, regardless of the European Parliament movement, alerts a change in tone from Brussels, in keeping with Heydarian.
“With the new EU ambassador signaling that they can find a way not to pressure Duterte too much on human rights, both sides have been extending the olive branch,” he advised DW.
Duterte tries to ‘play nice’
There is now additionally better recognition in Manila of the EU’s significance. Political change within the United States, which can see the Joe Biden administration take a harder stance on Manila, probably led to Duterte calculate that he has to “play nice with the Europeans,” mentioned Heydarian.
Bilateral commerce between the EU and Philippines in items was value €14.9 billion in 2019. The earlier 12 months, the inventory of EU funding within the Philippines was value €13.8 billion, which made it the most important investor within the Southeast Asian state, in keeping with European Commission information.
Many Philippine exports to the EU are duty-free beneath the GSP+ scheme, the EU’s preferential commerce scheme, which has turn out to be extra vital than ever because the nation makes an attempt to get better following an financial contraction of 9.5% in 2020, its largest stoop for the reason that Second World War, in keeping with the Philippine Statistics Authority.
The Philippines inclusion on this GSP+ scheme, which got here into impact in 2014, is predicted to run out by 2024, but there are latent threats that it may finish sooner until Manila now works extra carefully with the EU via the PCA committees.
“The current focus of the Commission’s engagement with the Philippines remains on the monitoring of compliance with the EU’s special incentive arrangement for sustainable development of the Generalised Scheme of Preferences,” mentioned Commission sources, referring to the GSP+ scheme.
What does the EU need?
However, a wholesome relationship with the Philippines is now additionally a necessity for Brussels because it tries to forge higher ties with the regional Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc.
In August, the Philippines takes over the function because the ASEAN coordinator for Dialogue Relations with the EU till 2024, that means Brussels and Manila must discover a modus operandi for cooperation.
That is particularly the case after the EU was formally named a “strategic partner” of the Southeast Asian bloc in December and expects to ramp up its exercise within the area this 12 months.
There doesn’t seem like a lot enthusiasm from Brussels {that a} free-trade settlement can be signed with the Philippines anytime quickly.
After agreeing to free-trade pacts with Singapore and Vietnam, the EU has struggled to advance negotiations with different Southeast Asian states.
Disputes over the EU’s phased ban of palm-oil imports has stalled talks with Indonesia and Malaysia, two of the world’s largest palm-oil exporters, whereas negotiations with Thailand are nonetheless on maintain.
Although negotiations with the Philippines over a free-trade settlement started in 2015, they solely went via two rounds of talks earlier than stalling in early 2017.
“The EU remains committed in principle to the negotiation of a trade agreement with the Philippines,” mentioned Ambassador Veron. “However, at this moment, the EU focuses its engagement with the Philippines on the implementation of several international Conventions under the General Scheme of Preferences (GSP+), from which the Philippines currently benefits.”

A European Commission supply, who additionally spoke on situation of anonymity, mentioned {that a} free-trade settlement is being swept beneath the rug for now to restrict discussions concerning the Philippines’ human rights file. They added that the EU is biding its time and making an attempt to maintain relations on a fair keel for the subsequent 14 months till the subsequent Philippine presidential election.
Unless Duterte is ready to alter the structure to take away the one-term limits on presidents, which seems unlikely, he must step down subsequent 12 months and Brussels might discover a much more amiable chief in Manila.