The planned bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) between the Philippines and EU has a political component, including human rights dimension and all other EU conventions, said EU Ambassador to the Philippines Massimo Santoro.
In a huddle with media following his speech at the General Membership Meeting of the Makati Business Club on May 13, 2025, Santoro stressed that the proposed bilateral FTA is not trade-related only, but has a “wider, more ample dimension of respect by the two sides of all the system of conventions.”
He explained that even in the EU-Generalized System of Preferences where the Philippines is the sole beneficiary among ASEAN countries under its GSP+ system, the human rights dimension is included.
In any of its FTA deals, he said, the EU ensures that trade is “respectful to human rights, that trade is sustainable, and that trade is inclusive.”
To check the proper implementation by the Philippine side of the GSP Plus system, he noted of EU monitoring missions who come into the country regularly to assess the implementation, not only on the trade related aspects, but other parts, like the human rights.
Responding to a question that the political component in the FTA negotiation might complicate the current situation with the former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is now detained at the International Criminal Court in The Hague on human rights issue arising from his bloody drug war, the ambassador said that the current situation of the former president won’t come as an element in the FTA negotiation.
He stressed that the two parties negotiating the FTA are focusing on the trade-related elements, on the implementation of the obligations by the two sides in terms of implementation of the partnership and cooperation agreement. “That is the founding element of the cooperation between the EU and the Philippines,” he said.
“I would not say that the current situation with the former president is an element which comes into the negotiation of this FTA. This I would not say,” he reiterated.
