EU sanctions on Burma: What next?   
   

On 12 April, the European Union announced that the trade and financial sanctions imposed on Myanmar would be continued for another year. However, travel restrictions on a few civilian members of Myanmar’s government were relaxed. The extension of these sanctions includes a travel ban on high-level officials of the 27 member group of the EU, but excludes junior-level officials. Although there is no perceptible deviance from the official position maintained by the EU on Myanmar, these developments warrant a re-examination of the relations between Myanmar and the EU. (The Eurasia Review)

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Indonesia-EU Relations: EU's Conservative and Cautious Approach

The Chairman of the EU Delegation for Relations with the countries of Southeast Asia and the ASEAN, Dr. Werner Langen, together with nine other members of the European Parliament, were visiting Indonesia from February 21-25, 2011.  A separate meeting on regional integration was also held recently by the EU ambassador to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam, Julian Wilson, on March 2.  Visits by individual EU Member States' officials since the start of 2011 - including the Swedish Minister of Trade, Ewa Björling, the French Minister of Economic Affairs, Finance, and Industry, Christine Lagarde, and the Spanish State Secretary of Foreign Trade, Alfredo Bonet - also mark the tight relation between RI and the EU.  Yet, this bilateral relation seems be on the "conservative" and "cautious" side that demand shifts of focus and more of regular open public discussion forums between not only EU delegations  and RI officials, but also EU delegations and RI stakeholders.

Hesitation as Good Policy   

Businessmen want the Philippine government to act fast, negotiate with the European Union for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) and warn that continued pussy-footing will cause the country to miss the opportunities that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations fellow-member-countries have begun to benefit from. (The Manila Times)

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