The head of the European Union Commission delegation to the country expressed confidence that the EU Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus or GSP+ will continue, which was previously on the verge of being withdrawn due to allegations of human rights violations during the Duterte administration.

EU Delegation in Manila chief, Ambassador Luc Véron, said renewal of the Philippines' GSP+ status is within reach following the "good engagement" on the EU monitoring done last February and March this year.

"There will be a report that will be sent to our legislature, the European Parliament, towards the end of this year or early next year that will contain the findings of the European Commission on the application of GSP+ in the Philippines," he said.

"I'm confident that we will have a perspective for the continuation of GSP+ of the EU with the Philippines," he added.

Rights strings attached

The EU Parliament and local legislators headed by Senate President Migz Zubiri, have recently engaged in an inter-parliamentary dialogue, "which is very positive," according to Véron.

"There was a lapse in conversation due to the pandemic. I am very happy that we were able to restart the process and there will be a visit from the European Parliament next year. That is all very positive," he said.

The Philippines' GSP+ coverage will expire in December 2023. Countries that seeks the trade perks must uphold 27 international conventions on human rights, labor, environment and climate protection, and good governance.

In February 2022, 627 members of the EU Parliament urged the European Commission to temporarily withdraw the Philippines' GSP+ status if the government of President Duterte will not swiftly comply with its human rights obligation, apart from 25 pressing concerns raised by the EU Parliament, including the war on drugs.

"It is very interesting to see that the new administration has reformulated the war on drugs which is way different from the one in the past. I think what is very important is that we can have this kind of conversation between the Philippines and the EU. The quality of conversation is very important because if we have issues of concern, we can easily discuss them and this is what matters," according to Ambassador Véron.