MANILA – 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 on Monday.

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),” Dr von der Leyen told reporters at a joint news conference with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in the Philippine capital, 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 EU is the Philippines’ fourth-largest trading partner and an FTA would be Manila’s second bilateral deal after one with Japan.

Mr Marcos described the Philippines and the EU 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 EU tax-free, but this is set to expire at the end of the 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.

Drug war

Rights monitors and some EU members of Parliament have urged the EU to withhold a deal extension for the Philippines because of Mr Duterte’s anti-narcotics crackdown that claimed thousands of lives.

The drug war has continued under Mr Marcos even as he emphasised a greater focus on rehabilitation, but a local monitoring group estimates that more than 350 people have been killed since he took power in June 2022.

Human Rights Watch’s EU director Philippe Dam said it was concerning that Dr von der Leyen “could not be heard tackling human rights and civil liberties issues”.

“Make no mistake – the human rights situation in the Philippines remains dire,” Mr Dam said in a statement.

“The EU should not look the other way and should tie a future trade deal to concrete labour and human rights improvements and accountability for past violations.”

An EU official told journalists from Manila that Mr Marcos has been taking “important steps” to improve his country’s human rights record, though it remained a “work in progress”.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mr Marcos’ overall posture as leader “has facilitated our cooperation” even if other imperatives had also come into play, especially the need for Europe and the Philippines to reduce their reliance on trade with China.

Dr von der Leyen, the first European Commission president to visit the Philippines, said the two sides had “learnt the hard way the cost of economic dependencies”.

An FTA was the basis for diversifying supply lines and could also be “a springboard for a new technology cooperation to modernise the broader economy”.

She said the EU would provide €466 million (S$683 million) to help the Philippines develop “green energy” and plastics recycling, as well as provide satellite data to help it better prepare for extreme weather. AFP