EU hopes to put Asian links on solid footing
EU hopes to put Asian links on solid footing
BRUSSELS (Reuter): The European Union, stung by criticism from
Asian leaders over the weekend, hopes to advance relations in the
calmer atmosphere of a two-day high-level diplomatic meeting
which opened yesterday.
Following criticism from foreign ministers at the Association
of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Jakarta, EU
officials hope for progress to be made at an Asia Europe Meeting
(ASEM).
ASEM, formed last year, groups 37 Asian and European nations
in a forum that strives to roll back trade barriers, reduce
tariffs and encourage mutual investment.
In Indonesia over the weekend, a meeting of ASEAN heads of
state suggested the EU was allowing the group to become
preoccupied by human rights.
At the center of the row was ASEAN's decision to grant
observer status to Myanmar, a nation in the EU spotlight
following the death there of Denmark's honorary consul in
suspicious circumstances.
A Danish proposal for sanctions against Myanmar was toned down
last week to one condemning the government of the State Law and
Order Restoration Committee (SLORC). Sanctions would be pointless
without the backing of the United Nations, other EU diplomats
argued.
But critics of EU foreign policy were outraged this week when
Foreign Minister Dick Spring of Ireland -- which holds the
rotating EU presidency -- failed to condemn Rangoon's elevation
to the Asian Regional Forum, a group to which the EU also
belongs.
Contradictions
The European Parliament in particular has complained at
apparent contradictions in EU policy, passing a non-binding
resolution last week that called for pressure on Myanmar to be
stepped up.
Against this backdrop, ASEM diplomats met in Brussels
yesterday and today to begin negotiating common trade policies to
be tackled at the World Trade Organization meeting in Singapore
in December.
The European Commission -- the EU's executive -- is determined
to leave the rhetoric to the politicians and steer clear of
controversy.
The main differences are over trade liberalization. The EU
says liberalization will, gradually, bring labor standards in
less developed countries up to Western standards.
Many Asian countries argue that the EU wants these same
standards -- in other words wages -- raised in order to make them
less competitive and EU exports more attractive.
The European Commission was set to propose yesterday that the
WTO meeting create a working party to look at the link between
labor standards and trade.
Officials say the ASEM meeting will concentrate instead on
matters on which the sides agree -- the need for common
investment strategies, certain environmental and trade issues and
advancing progress on common customs procedures.
But sources say the officials, among the most senior in the
civil services of the 37 nations, will today have to tackle the
political problems that will not go away.