Beyond borders, breaking barriers with the European bloc’s envoy in PHL
SINCE its founding in November 1, 1993, the European Union (EU) has grown into a monolithic organization of 28 member-countries, boasting of a $16-trillion gross domestic product (GDP)—almost one-fourth of the entire world’s.
The aggrupation came about after decades of struggles between neighbors, which culminated in the bloodiest of all: the Second World War. Eventually, they decided not only to promote peace but also unify its economic and monetary system, combat discrimination, break down barriers to trade and borders, encourage technological and scientific developments, as well as champion environmental protection, among others.
Today that avowed “unity” is threatened by the departure of the United Kingdom. The so-called “Brexit-eers” say it is not what the peoples of the EU voted for—and
it could keep the UK tied to the bloc indefinitely, without any say on its rules.
Ambassador of the EU Delegation to the Philippines Franz Jessen, who has been posted in the country for the last four years, helped make sense of the complexity of Brexit. During a BusinessMirror Coffee Club forum early this month, he made the assurance that the EU will remain intact even if the UK eventually cuts its cord with the mainland.
“The EU will survive with clearly 27 member-states,” he assured. “I think everybody is very sad…of the decision the UK has made. But that’s their decision.”
As a background, the EU’s original founders are Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The UK came aboard only in the early 1970s, allegedly, as a way to avoid its economic decline. Its percapita GDP, relative to those of the EU founding members, declined steadily from 1945 to 1972. However it had stabilized between 1973 and 2010.
In 2017 the British government contributed £13 billion to the EU budget, while EU spending on the UK amounted to only £4 billion.
Despite Brexit, Jessen said the Philippines’s trade with the remaining 27 countries would remain substantial, that “it would not be affected very much [despite] a relatively large member-state such as the UK leaving.”
His reassurance: “It is one countr y out of 28. It means that the statistics would not be dramatically different from what they were used to.”
From the Philippine perspective, the envoy said, “You would probably see an EU that is pretty much similar to what you’ve used to know.”
“I’m [upbeat in] the Year of the Pig to see how we can take our relationship further ahead,” Jessen mused.
The soft-spoken diplomat said there are two things the EU wants from the country—one of which is economic interaction. He said the country is very important for the EU, being “one of the biggest partners in [our] economic activities in terms of foreign direct investments.”
“We have traditionally been the biggest in terms of trade and traditionally No. 2; sometimes No. 3, [or] bigger.”
The Danish diplomat likewise pointed out that the EU is a major source of employment and job creation for Filipinos, and it is his duty to look for ways of doing it better on the economic front, not simply by talking about it, “but [by] actually doing it on the ground.”
According to the ambassador, there are 800,000 overseas Filipino workers in all of Europe, of which 300,000 are seafarers aboard EUflagged ships. About 23,000 highly paid Pinoy officers captain them.
‘Moving forward’
IT was at this juncture that the EU ambassador stated the second purpose of his diplomatic presence in the country, which is about “moving forward.”
Jessen, who has a doctorate degree in Economics from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the United States, popularly known as Virginia Tech, revealed that EU officials are discussing a new paradigm called “geographical indications [GI].” The concept basically recognizes traditional products from their place of origin.
He explained, for instance: “‘Bordeaux wine’ means that it originated from Bordeaux, a city in southwestern France. You know where it’s produced, and it satisfies certain traditional production criteria.”
The Philippines also practices GI on intellectual property of products such as mangoes from Guimaras, an island adjunct of Iloilo City in the Visayas.
“The advantage for the producers is that their products can be sold at a higher price because people are better informed: ‘This is wine from Bordeaux, or a fruit from Guimaras,’ and they are prepared to pay a little bit more than they would for another kind of wine or another mango.”
He admitted that from his point of view, GI is a very practical kind of cooperation between his region and our country. “How do we make this system work so that your products are recognizedandcancommandahigher price in the EU market and vice versa?”
Jessen transitioned by saying that the EU has more ambitious free-trade agreements that he would like to have activated. “The region has the technology, know-how and capital, and you have the young labor force with [ever-improving] skills. It’s something we can benefit [from] in Europe by outsourcing most of our production through the Philippines.”
The envoy further explained the developments over at the European economic bloc:
“When you look at the figures, you probably would have seen that the UK covers about 6 to 7 percent of EU trade in a normal year. We can easily grow by [that much], or more, in terms of bilateral trade. The overall figure would not be dramatically influenced by Brexit.”
On the other hand, the marine products such as tuna that we export to Britain, as well as others, “will depend very much on the agreement the UK had with the EU.”
“It’s a bit too early to talk about the complete influence. What I can say is that ‘EU 27’ will not change. You’ll have the same access as before, we’ll have the same consumers, the same biases and you’re trading in the same currencies.”
New realities, developments
THE multilingual Danish ambassador, who speaks nihongo and a slew of other European languages, thought his posting in the country would be smooth sailing; that it would just be as simple as building on his predecessor’s legacy.
“I had not expected that the ‘twists’ and ‘turns’ would be so strong as they were,” he admitted; then added, “It was a challenge, but it’s a nice kind. Yes, it is.”’
That debacle came in the form of a miffed Duterte, who refused to accept the P383.64million (€6.1 million) aid arising from the EU-Philippines Trade-Related Technical Assistance (TRTA).
In a previous interview, Jessen was asked if the agreement had ever been formalized. “It was, in the sense that we had the TRTA, a document that actually had to be signed by the end of the year. And that was returned to us unsigned.”
However, the good ambassador did not feel offended by the President’s rejection of the aid. He admitted that in the course of the debate about the issue, “more questions have been asked and traditional points of view were challenged in a way that they were not previously.”
“I think it [begs the question of whether] we were really doing the best.”
He answered the rhetoric by saying: “Maybe, [it was because of the] old habits of doing things as we used to do without sort of adjusting to new realities and new political developments not only here in the Philippines but also in Europe.”
Instead of criticizing, Jessen, once an assistant professor in the Economics Department of the Odense University in Denmark, said: “Sometimes I feel that the Philippines is at the forefront of a number of international developments, and it makes it more exciting because things are happening here a bit earlier in some areas than what is happening in other areas in the world.”
“So I think with the election of Duterte, you can see some of the things he is pushing [for, which are] later on repeated in other countries,” the diplomat opined.
First time fascinated
DURING his nearly 48-month tour of duty in the country where he had gotten “involved” in our new brand of politics, Jessen feels that Duterte’s ascension to office “makes it exciting to be here,” as the diplomat feels that he is at the forefront of certain developments.
The EU’s top envoy in the Philippines met the president in Davao City shortly after the latter assumed the highest office in the land. He remembered seeing long lines of people wanting to see the then-newly installed chief executive and felt spellbound by what he saw.
“I was clearly, of course, fascinated the first time I met Duterte after he had been elected.”
After some lengthy discussions with the former Davao mayor, Jessen left with a positive impression of his host. “To [have spent] time with him was very promising. He clearly had caught the interest of voters in a way I think many political observers did not expect.”
He said he had heard how the President would run the country, as well as the leader’s optimism about the way it would be done.
“I think many people in the Philippines are also trying to understand all the changes that have happened in the last 31 months and what they mean for the country and its future.”