A4-0262/97

Resolution on the communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee : 'Creating a new dynamic in EU-ASEAN relations¨ (COM(96)0314 - C4-0467/96)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Commission communication (COM(96)0314 - C4-0467/96),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on External Economic Relations and the opinions of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defence Policy and the Committee on Development and Cooperation (A4-0262/97),

A. having regard to the experience of the European Union of creating a single market based on the harmonisation of commercial laws and standards, with resultant economic growth,

B. having regard to the strategic importance of ASEAN countries situated between South Asia and East Asia,

C. noting the growing importance of ASEAN countries in the world economy and that Europe is the second largest investor in this region,

D. noting the efforts of ASEAN to create a Community of eventually ten nations and to participate in APEC (the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum),

1. Emphasizes the necessity of a permanent political dialogue between ASEAN and the EU within an appropriate framework which should also include parliamentary cooperation;

2. Whilst fully respecting ASEAN's rights to sovereignty in enlargement, looks forward to a comprehensive debate on the implications of the expansion of ASEAN for EU/ASEAN relations;

3. Appreciates the need to advance ASEAN/EU cooperation as pinpointed in the Commission's document; is concerned, however, that its own rights of codetermination should not be undermined by such innovations;

4. Notes that its own rights of codetermination seem to have been undermined by a Joint Declaration from the 12th ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting on 13/14 February 1997, followed by the Council Conclusions of 24 March 1997 on the Communication, with the choice of Option II of the Communication which approved a package of economic and social cooperation actions, this being the alternative to a new third-generation agreement with ASEAN;

5. Notes too that the Council Conclusions of 24 March 1997 on the Communication stated that, in any new obligations exceeding the 1980 Agreement, the Commission will be authorized to negotiate sectoral protocols to the EC- ASEAN Agreement in the case of sectoral obligations or a general protocol, and points out that it must be consulted on such protocols;

6. Recalls the aims of ASEAN to encourage economic cooperation between the ASEAN countries, to promote peace, stability and mutual prosperity and to enhance policy coordination;

7. Notes that increasing cooperation between ASEAN and the EU could concern all aspects of economic activity : movement of goods and services, investment and intellectual property, industrial cooperation, services and technology and human resources;

8. Highlights the mutual benefits which could result from the encouragement of trade and the exchange of information;

9. Draws attention to the importance of encouraging investment including the liberalisation of investment regimes and full market access;

10. Agrees with the conclusions of the 12th ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting held in Singapore (13-14 February 1997) describing the principles of a new dynamic in EU-ASEAN relations and suggesting new fields of cooperation;

11. Emphasizes the importance of the private sector and in particular small and medium-sized industries;

12. Welcomes the launch of the EU-ASEAN Junior Managers Exchange Programme in November 1996;

13. Agrees with the policy of tourism development and consequently with the necessity to preserve cultural and environmental resources; also stresses the need to coordinate the efforts of ASEAN and the European Union to combat the sexual exploitation of children;

14. Emphasizes the necessity to fight the drug problem through bilateral agreements between the EU and individual ASEAN states concerning drugs precursors control;

15. Highlights the importance of encouraging media cooperation in order to increase mutual understanding of each other's interests and sensitivities;

16. Emphasizes the importance of respect for human rights; specifically emphasises the adherence to human rights conditionality in the bilateral relations between the EU and certain ASEAN members states, present and future; further, wishes to extend human rights conditionality to all ASEAN/EU agreements and to do so in a negotiated manner which pays due respect to different value systems and traditions;

17. Calls on Portugal to lift its objection to giving the Commission a mandate to negotiate a third-generation Cooperation Agreement with ASEAN whose human rights clause would then be a legal basis for protecting human rights in East Timor and elsewhere in ASEAN, whilst at the same time calling on the ASEAN countries to agree to respect the United Nations agreements, conventions and resolutions on the principles of self-determination, freedom and human rights;

18. Calls on the United Kingdom and France to abandon their efforts to become participants in the ASEAN Regional Forum separately from the EU as a whole;

19. Calls on the Commission and Council to persuade those of the ASEAN states which have not done so already to become parties to the two international covenants on human rights and to the Convention against Torture as a sign of their commitment to the universality of human rights which they claim to uphold and support;

20. Notes with concern that all ASEAN states retain the death penalty for a wide variety of crimes and calls on them to proceed towards its abolition, taking immediate steps to restrict its use;

21. Calls on the Member States to respect scrupulously the 1991 common criteria governing arms exports to South-East Asia, to apply rigorously the 1991 arms embargo on Burma and to heed Parliament's call to stop all arms sales to Indonesia;

22. Calls upon all Member States to become signatories to ASEAN's Treaty on a South-East Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone;

23. Insists on the need to respect and promote the social rights of workers, in particular the right to form trade unions;

24. Regarding the enlargement of ASEAN, demands that there should be separate negotiating mandates for Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar with respect to their accession to the ASEAN/EU agreement;

25. Calls for an intensified programme to deepen cultural exchanges in order to enhance mutual understanding between Europe and South-East Asia;

26. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States and the governments of the ASEAN states.