European Ambassador to the Philippines Franz Jessen , head
of the EU delegation to the Philippines said in the weekly Kapihan sa Manila
Bay press conference that the Philippines has formally rejected the fourth
phase of EU-Trade Related Technical Assistance (TRTA). It was in the same press
conference that Jessen has confirmed that a formal invitation to President
Rodrigo Roa Duterte to attend the 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM12) in
Brussels, Belgium in October.
Last year, the Philippines has rejected all forms of aid
that come with conditions and the President has slammed in his public speeches
the EU for meddling in the governments anti-drug war which has resulted to the
deaths of thousands. *
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| European Union (EU) Ambassador to the Philippines Franz Jessen (photo credit to owner) |
The Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Peter Allan
Cayetano, has clarified the country’s stand in the rejection of aid from the
European bloc and that is limited only
to those aids that come with “conditionalities that will affect our sovereignty.”
The EU ambassador said that the aid amounting to EUR6.1
million (PHP382.4 million) "was rejected at the end of this past
year."
The first TRTA was formalized between the two parties in
2005, with the EU initially providing EUR3.5 million (PHP219.5 million) to the
country. After its conclusion in the third quarter of 2008, it was succeeded
with the TRTA 2, which ended in 2012.
TRTA 3, which ran from 2013 to 2016, amounted to EUR3.5
million (PHP219.5 million) for a project that aims to support the Philippines’
integration into the international and regional trading and investment system
through an integrated approach encompassing policy and legislative reforms,
procedural and technical improvements, and capacity development.
When pressed to answer by the press, if theTRTA 4 can be
renewed, Jessen responded negatively.
"No, that has disappeared," he said. "The
budget that we used for that was an annual budget that now has gone. We're now
in 2018, we cannot spend 2017 money, so it's gone," he said.
"It was formalized in the sense that we had, for
example, the TRTA, a document that actually had to be signed by the end of the
year. And that has been reserved for some time," the EU ambassador added. *
Another project worth EUR39 million (PHP2.4 billion) ,
focused on sustainable energy is up for decision by Malacañan whether it be
postponed or not.
"The problem is that it's a little bit technical, but
the reason is that we have a financial agreement that runs for four years, and
that means that currently, we cannot do something that extends into the fifth
and the sixth year, and we need the government to agree on that, that we can do
the fifth year and sixth year, and so far they don't want to do it."he
said.
Report from PNA
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