EU pushes to build ties in Southeast Asia

DAVID HUTT

The EU has for years been pursuing a long-term strategy of increasing its influence in the key region of Southeast Asia, not just in terms of trade deals, but also political cooperation. The creation of a parliamentary assembly of lawmakers from the EU and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — in line with a European Parliament resolution from last year — may still be many years off, but a flurry of visits by MEPs to the region appears to be building momentum. The parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs traveled to Indonesia and Vietnam late last month, while the subcommittee on human rights was in the Philippines. Three further separate delegations are expected to visit the region in April alone.

Relations between the EU and ASEAN were upgraded to a “strategic partnership” in 2020, and leaders from all parties attended a summit in December. Southeast Asia’s importance as a trading partner is only increasing, and the region lies on many geopolitical fault lines.

“The strategic partnership between ASEAN and the EU is not just a matter for our executive branches. Regular exchanges between parliamentarians on both sides are key to keep the relationship from moving to the political backbenches amid diverging regional priorities,” David McAllister, a German MEP and chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, told DW.

The latest EU-ASEAN plan of action for 2023-2027 spells out that both sides should “encourage linkages” between the European Parliament and the individual parliaments of ASEAN member states, as well as the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), a confederation of lawmakers from those states. This was the first time that parliamentary links had been noted in such an action plan. Building on this, the European Parliament will dispatch several more delegations to Southeast Asia in the coming months, McAllister noted. In April, a delegation of the Committee for the Internal Market and Consumer Protection will travel to Singapore, while the Committee on Legal Affairs will be in Malaysia and the Subcommittee for Human Rights will visit Vietnam. One month later, a delegation from the Committee on Transport and Tourism will head to Indonesia.

On top of that, “the European Parliament has decided to send its own officials to work on parliamentary affairs within the EU Delegation to ASEAN, as a way to enhance the parliamentary dimension of the EU-ASEAN strategic partnership,” McAllister said.

Siti Rozaimeriyanty Dato Haji Abdul Rahman, general secretary of the AIPA, says that there is also much optimism among Southeast Asians regarding better parliamentary ties.

“While diplomats predominantly direct a country’s foreign policy, members of parliaments play an important role in influencing countries’ policy priorities, holding governments accountable and providing a stronger foundation for good governance,” she said.

“Parliamentary diplomacy serves to complement diplomatic efforts of the executive to advance national interests on the regional and international level.”

Last June, the European Parliament adopted a plenary resolution that called for “the establishment of an EU-ASEAN parliamentary assembly.” The following month, another resolution noted that such a forum is needed to “strengthen the democratic dimension of the partnership.”

This article was provided by Deutsche Welle