EU, Philippines to strengthen cooperation on maritime security

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the European Union was ready to strengthen cooperation with the Philippines on maritime security.

She was speaking after a meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Manila on Monday.

"We are ready to strengthen the cooperation with the Philippines on maritime security in the region by sharing information, conducting threat assessment and building the capacity of your coast guard," she said in a joint statement with Marcos.

The Philippines is a fulcrum of the geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China, with its maritime territory encompassing part of the South China Sea, a strategic and resource-rich waterway over which China also claims sovereignty.

The leaders also discussed relaunching negotiations for a free trade agreement and the Southeast Asian country's energy transition.

EU trade incentives

Her visit is aimed at strengthening diplomatic, trade, security and overall relations, European and Philippine officials said, adding that she came at Marcos’s invitation.

The talks between von der Leyen and her delegation with Filipino officials were also expected to cover the Philippines’ chances of retaining special trade incentives depending on its adherence to international conventions on human and labor rights and good governance.

In February, a group of European parliamentarians said Manila’s chances of retaining those incentives, including slashed tariffs for a wide array of products, would increase if a long-detained opposition leader is freed and the Philippines rejoins the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The European Union trade incentives under the so-called Generalized Scheme of Preferences, or GSP Plus, for the Philippines and seven other developing countries are anchored on their adherence to more than two dozen international conventions on human and labor rights, environmental protection and good governance.

The trading incentives, which the Philippines started to enjoy in 2014, would end in December and the government could reapply within a two-year period to retain them, the European lawmakers said then.

But the Philippines came under intense EU criticism during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s six-year term, mainly because of the bloody anti-drugs crackdown he oversaw that left more than 6,000 mostly petty suspects dead. Marcos succeeded Duterte in June last year.

The killings sparked an ICC investigation as a possible crime against humanity. Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in 2018, but its prosecutor has proceeded to investigate the widespread deaths t hat occurred in the years when the country was still part of the court based in The Hague.

Duterte then often lashed at the EU’s criticisms of his brutal anti-drugs crackdown with profanity-laced outbursts.

European parliamentarians have also repeatedly demanded the release of opposition leader and former senator Leila de Lima, Duterte’s most vocal critic who was arrested and detained in 2017 on drug charges she said were fabricated by Duterte and his officials to stop her from investigating the killings.