Building a foundation for ASEAN-EU relations

Building a foundation for ASEAN-EU relations

By Medyatama Suryodiningrat

JAKARTA (JP): When foreign ministers of the European Union
and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet for a
two-day meeting in Singapore today, they will have the onerous
task of trying to build a new foundation for future relations
between two of the world's most successful regional
organizations.

While the EU is the oldest of ASEAN's eight dialog partners,
the relationship in recent years has been plagued by political
issues which has limited the cooperation's growth.

The question for tomorrow's meeting is whether the
relationship, which informally began in 1972, is mature enough to
take a bold new step forward or whether it will again be bogged
in unnecessary political agendas.

For sometime now ASEAN has been pushing for a third generation
agreement on cooperation with the EU. The new agreement, or
action plan, will contain concrete ideas and set the tone for
things to come.

The new agreement is seen by ASEAN as a progression of the
1980 Cooperation Agreement in which the EU assisted ASEAN in
various programs such as institutional linkages, scientific and
technical exchanges.

"That was a first and second generation agreement which would
later be improved by a third generation agreement," explained the
Director General of Indonesia's National ASEAN Secretariat,
Rahardjo Djamtomo.

The formulation of a new agreement is seen as a natural
continuance to further solidify ties as the world enters a new
age.

"However due to certain steps taken by Portugal, a next
generation agreement was never realized," he told The Jakarta
Post in a recent interview.

Despite the deepening and widening of the relationship,
positions on both sides have hardened. ASEAN has asserted its
stance against bringing in "extraneous issues" such as human
rights and in particular the issue of East Timor and Myanmar.

The association would like to see dialog focus on expanding
economic relations and creating a more equal partnership which is
no longer based on a donor-recipient format.

During an informal summit here in November, ASEAN leaders
strongly warned the EU that relations could be unnecessarily
aggravated if extraneous issues were brought into the cooperation
framework.

The EU on the other hand has so far neglected these warnings,
and issued their own statement on East Timor a few weeks later in
a meeting in Dublin.

While there has been no formal submission of human rights on
the agenda, certain EU countries are expected to try raising
these issues.

Any formal agreement made during the dialog would also be
subject to prior discussion of sensitive issues.

On the other hand the EU also realizes that it cannot afford
to be left out of the subregion's dynamic economic growth. Thus
some sort of middle ground must be taken.

Veering away from a formal agreement, the EU and ASEAN are
instead likely to issue a joint declaration which in essence will
contain action plans for the future direction of the
relationship.

The formulation of the directions of the relationship in a
declaration will also resolve the political impasse which has
held captive the drafting of a new agreement to support and
further promote the growing economic relationship.

An important feature of the meeting will be the role of the
Netherlands as president of the EU.

As a former colonial power here, the Netherlands should be
familiar with Indonesia's sensitivities. The Hague also learned
that if it meddles too much in Indonesia's domestic affairs,
Jakarta will not hesitate to take drastic measures.

Jakarta in 1991 renounced Dutch aid to Indonesia for what it
considered intrusions on Indonesian internal matters. A Dutch-
lead aid group on Indonesia was also disbanded and a new one
created without the participation of the Netherlands.

Dutch ambassador to Jakarta, Paul Brouwer, maintained that his
country as co-chairman of the meeting in Singapore would do its
best to make it a success.

"The Netherlands with the responsibility of the EU presidency
is dedicated to the success of the EU-ASEAN Ministerial meeting.
And we will do what is necessary to make that success happen," he
told the Post.

While he refused to speculate on the outcome of the meeting,
the Netherlands could play a crucial role in toning down
aggressive overtures on sensitive issues.

"I would like to emphasize that our relations between EU-
ASEAN, between member states, are based on mutual respect and
non-confrontation and that any discussion should be held in that
spirit," Brouwer said.

During their exchange of views and their attempt to map out a
new direction for the relationship, EU and ASEAN ministers will
look at two main papers.

The first is a report by the Eminent Persons Group. Formed in
1994, the 16 member expert panel was assigned the task of
presenting recommendations for an EU-ASEAN partnership.

Their report in essence stresses the need for stronger
economic cooperation between the two organizations. It further
underlines that much of the potential inherent in the
relationship has not been fully exploited.

The second paper is the EC Communications on a creative
dynamism in ASEAN-EU relations. The paper reveals that it not
only focuses on the economic side but also political and security
issues.

Rahardjo said that it is from these deliberations that
ministers hope to formulate the declaration.

"So the declaration would embody the direction of the EU-ASEAN
relationship in the future. And if possible also contain action
plans on the direction which have been drafted together and that
would include political-security, economics, social-cultural
aspects including the development of human resources," he said.
"How far it can be achieved is subject to negotiations."

Among the programs expected to be agreed on is the
establishment of an ASEAN Partinariate which would bring together
the private sector from the EU and ASEAN particularly the small
and medium scale enterprises.

Greater people-to-people contact will also be highlighted with
hopes of establishing institutional and personal networks among
universities, parliamentarians and other professional
organizations in the two regions.

Despite the potential of lingering sensitive political issues,
Rahardjo remains optimistic the meeting will be a success.

"Personally I'm optimistic because all countries want to see
the EU-ASEAN relationship blossom," he said.

"The reality is that the Asia-Pacific region cannot be
neglected, and any relationship should be based on partnership
and mutual benefit...Europe needs this region and vice versa," he
remarked.