Trip Report – European Union Study Tour for Asia-Pacific Journalists

By Alexander Lumbantobing
www.liputan6.com
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL

European Union Study Tour for Asia-

Pacific Journalists (Press Seminar) at
the European Union HQ
Brussels, Belgium, 20 – 24 November 2017

This report is part of the agreement between the European External Action Services (EEAS) at the
European Union (EU) Delegation to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam and the European Union
Mission to ASEAN, located in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Day 1
The European Union Study Tour for Asia-Pacific Journalists (also known as the Press Seminar) started
with the broad view of what the roles, policies, and scope of tasks carried out by the EEAS as the
EU’s means of engagement with the world outside the EU.

Mr. Adam KAZNOWSKI, Press Officer for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Directorate-General
Communications – European Commission started his explanation with the distinction of the Council
of the EU and the European Council.

Also presented was the policy making process and relationships between bodies such as Council of
the EU, the European Commission, and the European Parliament.

One broad discussion was on the EU's unique institutional set-up to include:

 European Council, which brings together national and EU-level leaders and acts to set the EU's
broad priorities;
 European Parliament, consisting of directly elected MEPs representing European citizens;
 European Commission, whose members are appointed by national governments and promote
the interests of the EU as a whole;
 Council of the European Union, where governments of member countries defend their own
country's national interests.

Issues of Interest

Several issues of interest are migration, security, and capacity building.

Mr. KAZNOWSKI briefly referred to the Valletta Summit on Migration, also called the Valletta
Conference on Migration, which was a summit held in Valletta, Malta, on 11–12 November 2015.

Also on the table were the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) as the major element of the
Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU. There have been 32 CSDP missions and operations
worldwide, including 16 missions and operations currently in place.
 Trip Report – European Union Study Tour for Asia-Pacific Journalists
By Alexander Lumbantobing
www.liputan6.com
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL

Concerning the engagement in capacity building worldwide as part of EU diplomacy, Mr. José DIEZ
VERDEJO, Policy Officer, International Cooperation Unit, Directorate-General Education, Youth,
Sports and Culture – European Commission presented his session.

Mr. DIEZ VERDEJO laid out the new Erasmus+ program (running from 2014 to 2020), which is the
merger of seven programs in the past.

The Erasmus+ program is implemented through various mechanisms: vocational training students
and apprentices, young people taking part in youth exchanges and volunteering, and programs
specifically designed for teachers, youth trainers and other staff.

In Europe, the Erasmus+ program also supported by five program countries outside the EU. Those
program countries are not the member of the EU, but get involved in the program through program
participation and funding.

Council of the EU and the European Council

After a brief attendance to the midday press briefings at the Justus Lipsius building, the participants
of the Press Seminar had the opportunity to attend a midday press briefing, followed by the session
on internal mechanisms and processes focused on media activities and products by Ms. Evi LIASKOU.

Day 2
The second day consists of press visit to the European Parliament, hosted by Antonio LEON, Press
Officer, Media Services Unit, Directorate for Media, Directorate-General for Communication,
European Parliament.

European Parliament or Political Groups?

In addition to explanation on the parliamentary processes (e.g. schedules to assemble and venues),
this has been an opportunity to explore various outputs (resolutions, etc.) from the House vis-à-vis
the outputs from political groups within the Parliament pertaining positions on several issues.

For example, there is one provisional edition number P8_TA-PROV(2017)0269 titled “Human rights
situation in Indonesia”. This is the European Parliament resolution of 15 June 2017 on the human
rights situation in Indonesia.

Another example is a provisional edition number P8_TA-PROV(2017)0351 titled “Myanmar, in

particular the situation of Rohingyas”, which is the European Parliament resolution of 14 September
2017 on Myanmar, in particular the situation of Rohingyas.

(On the last day of tour, the participants also learned about the blocs within the European
Parliament, spanning across sides. This will be explained later.)

In addition to presentations, the participants had the opportunity to visit the VoxBox and learned
about its set up as well as its roles and requirement, e.g. the opportunity for an EU citizen to live
broadcast his or her opinion as long as he or she has at least one MEP on cam.
 Trip Report – European Union Study Tour for Asia-Pacific Journalists
By Alexander Lumbantobing
www.liputan6.com
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL

EU – ASEAN Relations

Actually, there was an off-the-record session presented by MEP Mr. Werner LENGEN, Group of the
European People’s Party (Christian Democrats), Germany Chair of the Delegation for the relations
with the countries of Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) –
European Parliament.

Another off-the-record session presented by MEP Mr. Marc TARABELLA, Group of Progressive
Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, Belgium Vice-chair of the Delegation for the relations with the
countries of Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – European
Parliament.

Mr. Giuseppe BUSINI, ASEAN Policy Officer, Southeast Asia Division – EEAS briefly touched the most
current commemorative summit in Manila, attended by Donald Tusk, President of the European
Council, as a special invitee to President Duterte of the Philippines.

The summit reported on achievement and ways to move forward in the context of EU – ASEAN
relationship. Highlighted topics during the summit included maritime and counterterrorism matters.

On the trade matters, the civil aviation cooperation shall be a game changer, given the fact that the
regions are two massive players in civil aviation sector involving massive people-to-people
engagement.

Day 3
Further exploration of EU- ASEAN relations were presented by Mr. Peter BERZ, Head of Unit Trade
relations with South Asia, South East Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, Director-General Trade –
European Commission.

Mr. BERZ highlighted the role of bilateral agreements as the cornerstone of this task, for example to
make it harder for countries to dump products. The mechanisms in place included MFN duties and
GSP.

In reference to the Doha Development Agenda (DDA), there is this notion to engage not only in one
basket of cooperation, but to move towards more comprehensive approach on goods, services,
investment, and procurement.

EU is in the business of developing trade while the US is retracting (e.g. walk away from TPP and its
gloomy signal in WTO). Note that there is a clause in FTA for linking trade with sustainable
development.

Concerning China, the EU views it as becoming a single major ‘competitor’ in ASEAN, especially after
the US walked away from TPP.

Ms. Beata SLOMINSKA, Policy Officer, Economic and Global Issues Division – EEAS laid out the four
pillars of the Energy Diplomacy Action Plan. The Plan serves to guide the translation of policy-level
cooperation to industry-level cooperation (e.g. business forums).
 Trip Report – European Union Study Tour for Asia-Pacific Journalists
By Alexander Lumbantobing
www.liputan6.com
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL

Ms. SLOMINSKA also unveiled the fact that EU is running on nuclear energy (28%) and renewable
energy (26%). She also emphasized the rise of pro-sumer (producer-consumer) market in energy
sector, which requires further on-grid and off-grid arrangement.

Mr. Tomas BRAENNSTROEM, International Relations Officer, International Affairs Unit, Directorate-
General GROW – European Commission explained about the EU competitiveness as measured by
Global Competitive Index (GCI) by WEF, and also measurements using REER, TFP and some others.

Mr. BRAENNSTROEM further discussed competitiveness problems and variability between member
states within the EU.

Projects, Air Transport, and Human Rights

Mr. Efstratiatos PEGIDIS, Programme Officer East, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific, Directorate-
General Development Cooperation – European Commission revealed the importance of ASEAN as
the home for half of the world’s population and 2/3 of the world’s poor.

Also highlighted were the facts that the region is a fast growing region coupled with environmental
degradation and the diverse in development stages (LDC, MIC, and the BRIC-type).

The development policy framework focuses on two pillars: (1) democracy, human rights, and good
governance, and (2) inclusive and sustainable growth for human development.

Mr. Carlos BERMEJO ACOSTA, Head of Unit, International Transport Affairs, Directorate-General for
MOVE – European Commission discussed the EU – ASEAN Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement
– given the growing air transport market – to encourage direct link between the two regions (instead
of benefiting the Middle East countries).

He further explored on the issues on safety, security, air transport management and clauses on code
sharing, disputes (through joint commission), etc.

Also on discussion was the controversial fifth freedom (in Europe, all the nine freedoms of flight
movements are available).

Mr. Adriano MARTINS, Policy Officer, Human Rights Division – EEAS, talked about the human rights
aspect in cooperation in reference to the EU’s human rights policy evolving since the 1960s. Human
rights are entailed in Article 2, 3, 6, and 21 of the Lisbon Treaty,

Tools of enforcement include (1) Declaration (at Council-level or High Representative-level) and (2)
Statement.

While financial instruments related to this are either EIDHR (European Instrument for Democracy
and Human Rights) or GSP+.

During his session, Mr. MARTINS unveiled results from several studies on death penalty, concluding
that death penalty is, scientifically speaking, not a deterrent of crimes.

He also emphasized that abolishing death penalty is not similar to decriminalization.

 Trip Report – European Union Study Tour for Asia-Pacific Journalists
By Alexander Lumbantobing
www.liputan6.com
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL

Day 4
Journalist from Indonesia met with Mr. Thomas GNOOCHI, Desk Officer for Indonesia and Laos –
EEAS for an intensive country-focused session.

During the meeting, Mr. GNOOCHI stated that the EU in Indonesia now emphasizes more on political
profile beyond trade and aid. He cited, for examples, the security involvement in Aceh Peace Process
and Aceh Monitoring Mission.

The EU is also seeking to move forward towards the new style of cooperation, PCA, as the umbrella
for cooperation beyond CEPA (which is limited to the economic realm of FTA).

One particular issue is on palm oil. It is understood that palm oil must be under CEPA due to its sheer
volume, but the solution would be most probably beyond CEPA.

As for security, Mr. GNOOCHI stated the opportunity for the EU to learn more about de-
radicalization programs from Indonesia given the fact that – per capita percentage wise – there are
more extremist in the EU than in Indonesia.

Entities outside the EU

Dr. Alan HARDARE, Head of Group Corporate Affairs for Imperial Brands, submitted his training on
“How the EU Really Works: For Journalists”, during which he shared tips and contact information on
how to gain information from or ask questions to entities inside the behemoth EU organs.

Dr. HARDARE also went into depth, breadth, and width about the way policies are being achieved
within the huge political chunks within the European Parliament, spreading across spectrum.

It is interesting to note that MEPs from various parties across EU member states would crowd
around a similar political leaning within a particular spectrum of the European Parliament.

For example, a centrist MEP from Germany would gather with other centrist MEPs from other
member countries, instead of other German MEPs.

The last meeting was with Ms. Shada ISLAM, Director of Policy, Friends of Europe.

As a former journalist, Ms. ISLAM offered her views on the way the EU operates – more of a smart
power beyond a soft power. Or, as she said it, “We need an adult in the room” when comparing the
approach to the Donald Trump’s current handling of global matters.

In Ms. ISLAM’s view, the EU has the opportunity to learn about resiliency of the people of ASEAN.

Conclusions
1. While much can be achieved through a closer relationship between the two regions, there is still
this huge potential for further, deeper, engagement and cooperation between the two.
2. It turns out that the learning processes do not go one way. There are pockets of knowledge
ready to be explored and utilised to maximize the mutual benefits to both ends.

Alexander Digitally signed by

Alexander Lumbantobing

Lumbantobi DN: cn=Alexander

Lumbantobing

ng Date: 2017.11.27 21:21:26

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