Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., left, gestures beside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during her visit at the Malacanang Presidential Palace in Manila, Philippines on, Monday, July 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, Pool)
THE European Union and the Philippines will restart negotiations on a free-trade agreement as they seek to accelerate “a new era of cooperation”, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
Talks began in 2015 under then-Philippine president Benigno Aquino but stalled two years later under his successor Rodrigo Duterte, whose deadly drug war strained diplomatic relations with the West and sparked an international probe.
“I’m very glad that we have decided to relaunch negotiations for (a) free-trade agreement (FTA),” von der Leyen told reporters at a joint news conference with President Ferdinand Marcos in Manila.
“Our teams will get to work right now on setting the right conditions so that we can get back to the negotiations,” she said, noting an FTA has “huge potential for both of us” in terms of jobs and growth.
The European Union is the Philippines’ fourth-largest trading partner and an FTA would be only Manila’s second bilateral deal after Japan.
Marcos described the Philippines and the European Union as “like-minded partners” with “shared values of democracy, sustainable and inclusive prosperity, the rule of law, peace and stability, and human rights”.
The Philippines enjoys a Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) status that allows it to export 6,274 products to the European Union tax-free, but this is set to expire at the end of this year.
Under the GSP+ scheme, which is extended to developing countries, Brussels cuts its import duties to zero on two-thirds of product categories in return for implementing 27 international conventions on human rights, labour rights, the environment and good governance.
Rights monitors and some EU members of parliament have urged the European Union to withhold a deal extension for the Philippines because of Duterte’s anti-narcotics crackdown that claimed thousands of lives.
The drug war has continued under Marcos even as he emphasised a greater focus on rehabilitation, while a local monitoring group estimates more than 350 people have been killed since he took power in June 2022. — AFP
