9DASHLINE — In Brief with Antoine Ripoll, Director of the European Parliament in ASEAN

9DASHLINE recently enjoyed the opportunity to speak with Antoine Ripoll, Director of the European Parliament in ASEAN.

Our discussion touched on a range of issues pertaining to the European Union’s relationship with Southeast Asia and the European Parliament’s growing role in foreign policy. Here we highlight some of the key points from our conversation.

9DL: You recently took up a new mandate for enhancing ties between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European Parliament (EP). Could you tell us a little more about this new role and the ambition behind it?

AR: The European Union (EU) and ASEAN have a long history of common and fruitful relations: we have been dialogue partners since 1977, with shared values and principles of a rules-based international order, effective and sustainable multilateralism, as well as free and fair trade. We do, on many matters, speak “a common language”, as Daniel Caspary, the chair of the Parliament’s Southeast Asia delegation, said in Jakarta on 7 August during his latest visit.

The EP has been in close touch with its natural partner in the region, the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), as well as with the parliaments of ASEAN member states for an equally long time.

Today, both regions are pursuing a regional integration process as the world’s centre of gravity shifts to the Indo-Pacific, of which Southeast Asia is a central part. Working closely with global partners for the promotion of multilateralism and the rule of law has become more crucial than ever, so the EP decided to establish a presence in Jakarta, within the EU Delegation to ASEAN.

In this function, I intend to support the work of my colleagues from the European External Action Service (EEAS) on parliamentary affairs and I will help Members and officials of the EP to develop a solid network of contacts in the parliamentary and civil society realms of this strategic region of 660 million people.

*Image credit:* *Oscar Siagian, © European Union, 2021.*

9DL: What role does the EP envision itself as playing in Southeast Asia? Does it see the EU working with the ASEAN stakeholders in helping shape the behaviour of great powers in the region — the US and China? Or does the EU see itself as a great power capable of serving as a third pole?

AR: Over the last decades, the EU has developed deep ties with its ASEAN partners: from trade and investment to development, from political engagement to security and defence cooperation, from supporting ASEAN’s community building to, more recently, supporting the region in the fight against COVID-19 and its consequences.

The EP has always brought strong political and budgetary support to all these policies, and is keen to take an active part in the linkages with individual parliaments of ASEAN member states, as well as with AIPA, as outlined in the 2023-2027 Plan of Action to Implement the ASEAN-EU Strategic Partnership. This month, the EP held its 12th inter-parliamentary meeting with Indonesia, and in November, we look forward to welcoming lawmakers from across ASEAN to Strasbourg for our dialogue with AIPA. In the longer term, it is our Parliament’s fervent wish to formally establish an EU-ASEAN inter-parliamentary body to strengthen the democratic dimension of our partnership.

The EU and ASEAN became “Strategic Partners” in 2020, and last year celebrated 45 years in relations. In the troubled world in which we live, with conflicts in Myanmar, Ukraine, and the Middle East impacting global security as well as the cost of living, our priority is to promote peace and stability worldwide based on our common values. We intend to all play our part in this multipolar world by ensuring the respect of international law, which all countries must uphold.

9DL: As you mentioned, the EU and ASEAN recently completed 45 years of partnership, which was elevated to a strategic partnership in December 2020. What are, in the eyes of the EP, the main priority areas in this relationship as ties continue to deepen, and what are some specific measures you are working on?

AR: Given the huge sources of tension in the world, continuing to build strategic trust between us is of the utmost importance. In April 2021, the EU launched its Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific to step up its engagement on strategic and security issues with partners in the region. The strategy is aligned with the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific and reaffirms the EU’s commitment to the principle of ASEAN centrality.

The geopolitical tensions I mentioned earlier are also leading to the fragmentation of world trade. The EU, however, is keen to conclude sustainable partnerships and trade agreements with reliable partners, including in ASEAN. In mid-October, the chair of Parliament’s international trade committee, Bernd Lange, spoke of the need to move negotiations with Indonesia and Thailand “beyond the finishing line”. These deals, and potentially one with the Philippines also, would build on the success of our FTAs with Singapore and Vietnam, approved by the EP several years ago. Our international trade committee will visit Bangkok in December, in what will be the eighth visit of an EP committee to Southeast Asia this year.

One of the EP’s other major priorities is to promote people-to-people contacts in the fields of education, culture, business, youth, and media among others. Our combined population of more than 1.1 billion people must see and feel that the strategic relationship between our two regions is built to their advantage and benefit. I welcome the fact that the EU’s partnership agreements with Malaysia and Thailand, approved by the EP in June, support the promotion of education and cultural cooperation, including people-to-people exchanges. Indeed, last December, my team and I were happy to host the launch event of the Young Indo-Pacific Forum in Brussels.

*Image credit:* *Flickr/European Parliament*.

9DL: Promoting and protecting human rights is an important concern for the EU, including the EP. As violence continues to persist and even escalate in Myanmar, the EU has been relying on sanctions with a seventh round imposed in July this year. How else would the EP wish to see the EU intervene to prevent atrocities and move towards democratisation in Myanmar?

AR: The EP has been very active and vocal on the deeply worrying situation in Myanmar since the coup on 1 February 2021. It has strongly condemned the junta’s violent and illegitimate rule in five resolutions. The EP has called for the unconditional release of all political prisoners, reinstating dissolved political parties, and a path for the return towards democracy and the rule of law. Our Members have also called on the international community to significantly increase support for Myanmar’s National Unity Government and democratic opposition groups, and for the institution of a global arms embargo on Myanmar.

EP Vice President Heidi Hautala has chaired an International Parliamentary Inquiry into the global response to the Myanmar crisis. Our Members have had regular contact with the country’s democratically elected parliamentarians (the CRPH) as well as with the National Unity Government, and urge the international community to coordinate and use all available political avenues to work with ASEAN and other regional actors to overcome the crisis. The EU supports the implementation of ASEAN’s Five Point Consensus.

9DL: Southeast Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change and has limited capacity to mitigate and adapt to the challenges it faces. How is the European Parliament working with its ASEAN partners on this issue?

AR: In 2018, the EP called on the EU to assume a leading role in global climate action and to step up its climate diplomacy efforts. The following year, the Parliament declared a climate and environmental emergency in Europe and globally. Since then, EU lawmakers have adopted a raft of legislations aimed at achieving climate neutrality by mid-century, delivering on our commitments under the Paris Agreement.

The EU has established a progressive policy framework for sustainable finance and had to cope with the impact of the pandemic in a way that is compatible with its transformative ambition. In the meantime, its role on the international stage has evolved substantially and sustainability has played an ever-stronger role across its external relations, including with Southeast Asia.

We welcome the EU’s signing of just energy transition partnerships with Indonesia and Vietnam, helping to ensure a socially fair transition towards green technologies. Indeed, earlier this year one of Parliament’s committees visited Jakarta to engage with the Indonesian authorities and other stakeholders on sustainable tourism and transport. As said by the EU Ambassador to ASEAN Sujiro Seam when launching the EU-ASEAN Green Diplomacy Weeks recently, “the European Union is committed to supporting our partners in their respective green transitions, including ASEAN”.

The European Parliament also supports the ASEAN-EU Dialogue on Sustainable Development started in 2017 and considers it to be an important high-level policy platform for exchanges on sustainable development cooperation.

9DL: De-risking from China has emerged as an important concern for the EU this year. Do you think this offers opportunities for the EU’s ties with Southeast Asia?

AR: “De-risk, not decouple” — these were EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s words to Parliament in relation to China last month. It is clear that Brussels-Beijing relations are increasingly characterised by economic competition and systemic rivalry, and the EP has called for a more assertive and coherent EU strategy towards the country. We’re willing to cooperate with China, but cooperation must be a two-way street.

Earlier this year, our Parliament called on the EU and its member states to reconsider their dependence on China and to address economic dependencies in strategic sectors. Earlier this month, Parliament adopted a new trade tool aimed at fighting economic coercion and enabling Europe to respond with its own countermeasures. In the coming months, the EP will outline its position in two upcoming resolutions, one on EU-China relations in general and another on the security and defence implications of Chinese influence on EU critical infrastructure.

Our Members have also been quick to call out China for its increasingly oppressive domestic policies and assertive foreign policy. China’s ambivalence towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been an issue for Europeans, and our Members have also condemned China’s support for the Myanmar junta.

The EP believes that, in its China policy, the EU should continue working together with like-minded partners such as ASEAN. This must be a win-win partnership.

9DL: For ordinary citizens in Europe and Southeast Asia, parliamentary diplomatic work is often abstract and its immediate relevance unclear. Why should people care about it?

AR: Parliaments are increasingly active in external policy, engaging in various ways with counterparts from third countries and other stakeholders. The EP is no exception, having established a broad network of contacts and relations with other parliaments and international parliamentary assemblies. The creation of our ASEAN antenna in Jakarta is part of this exercise.

The added value of parliamentary diplomacy for our citizens has multiple dimensions. It is widely acknowledged that members of Parliament can and do address more sensitive issues, such as human rights violations, and make public statements on these, open avenues for communication with local partners and engage more directly with political partners, which may otherwise not be possible. Silent parliamentary diplomacy can help solve political crises in third countries and make electoral processes smoother. Equally, MPs can provide important support in difficult international negotiations, on climate change or trade for example. And in a world where rules-based, effective multilateralism is more important than ever, elected parliamentarians can also function as a crucial link between citizens and the multilateral system.

9DL: Like other parliaments, the EP is also becoming increasingly active in diplomacy. How, in your view, can the EP complement the efforts of EU diplomats?

AR: The EP decided to set up its first office outside the EU in Washington DC in 2010 to enhance its relations with the US Congress and civil society stakeholders in the transatlantic field. I led this effort for seven years before concentrating my time and energy on Southeast Asia. Similarly, our institution has opened offices and antennae in Addis Ababa to liaise with its African Union partners, in New York to better coordinate with the United Nations, and of course in London post-Brexit. Others may come from other parts of the world.

In all cases, we are working within and in close cooperation with our European Union Delegations on the ground, as we seek to ensure the EU’s unity of action towards our international interlocutors.

DISCLAIMER: All views expressed are those of Antoine Ripoll and do not necessarily represent that of the 9DASHLINE.com platform.

Biography

Antoine Ripoll is the Director of the European Parliament in ASEAN. Image credit: CC-BY-4.0: © European Union 2023 – Source: EP (cropped).