Effecting positive developments in ongoing talks between the European Union and the Philippines regarding an ambitious free trade agreement and bringing EU President Ursula von der Leyen to the country, are what Ambassador Luc Véron sees as his greatest legacy as EU representative to the Philippines.

Véron, who assumed the post of EU Ambassador during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, is set to retire and relinquish his post in August 2024.

“I think we have avoided a lot of difficulties and that is already something, and we had the visit of the EU president here, the first official visit of the leader of the EU to meet President Marcos Jr. in July 2023, and the announcement of the relaunch of a potential FTA, those would be my legacy,” said Veron during an interview at the sidelines of ‘Shared Journey: 60 Years of European Union-Philippines Diplomatic Relations’ at the Yuchengco Museum, in Makati City on Tuesday night.

With the fervent hope for the FTA to be realized in the coming years, he said what is important is that EU and Philippine officials have sat together to look at perspectives.

Perspectives are good

“We decided to relaunch because the perspectives are good. So, we have good reasons to believe that we can negotiate a good and ambitious FTA,” Véron told the DAILY TRIBUNE.

Last March, DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual and European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis jointly announced that both parties have agreed to resume negotiations for the Philippines-EU FTA.

Dombrovskis noted that “conditions are right to take our trade relations to the next level,” and projected that the bilateral FTA would expand trading between the two countries by 6 billion euros.

The announcement of the recommencement of the formal FTA negotiations was also welcomed by European business groups.

Moving the marker

Moreover, Véron said he was proud to move the marker for the years of his tenure as EU Delegation Ambassador to the Philippines.

“I can testify that I love the country and I am very proud of how we moved the marker in the relation between the EU and the Philippines. I think we are in a very good place and there are so many good things for the future,” he said.

“We have a lot in common — we do trade, cooperation, and we have a very long standing cultural and humanitarian relationship. So, we must only ensure that we are heading in the right direction by paying attention day after day. But for the rest, it is done by the people,” he added.

The EU and the Philippines have a long relationship which started in mid-20th century.

Having established de facto relations with 15 of the early European Union members in 1948, the Philippines established formal ties with the European Community (the precursor of the European Union) on 12 May 1964.

Philippine Ambassador Vicente I. Singian presented his letters of credence to the European Commission as the first Head of the Philippine Mission to the EU in 1964. The EU Delegation to the Philippines was officially opened on 15 May 1991.

Transition

Over the years, EU and the Philippines’ political and diplomatic relations have transitioned from being primarily focused on developmental goals to adopting a more collaborative and mutually beneficial approach.

The conclusion of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, which created the European Union, strengthened the EU's political roles in its dealings with ASEAN and the individual ASEAN Member States.

From 1991 to 1994, the Philippines served as the ASEAN country coordinator of the ASEAN-EU Dialogue relations.

During this period, the dialogue partnership expanded its scope to include matters such as regional security, human rights, disarmament, non-proliferation, and drug control.

Since August, 2021 up to this year, the Philippines has, once again become country coordinator for ASEAN-EU Dialogue relations.