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The Philippines
This Week in AsiaPolitics

EU’s US$17 million maritime aid for Philippines targets Asian ‘fault lines’

Analysts say the European Union considers Manila ‘the most important’ partner for its Indo-Pacific strategy

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Philippines Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro (left) and EU European Commission Vice-President Kaja Kallas pose for photos after signing the Enhanced Partnership between the Philippines and the European Union on the sidelines of the Asean foreign ministers’ meeting in Pasay City, on Friday. Photo: EPA
Philippines Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro (left) and EU European Commission Vice-President Kaja Kallas sign the Enhanced Partnership between the Philippines and the European Union on the sidelines of the Asean foreign ministers’ meeting in Pasay City on Friday. Photo: EPA
Sam Beltran
The European Union’s upgraded partnership with the Philippines signals the bloc’s intent to diversify its Indo-Pacific strategy beyond trade and into the security arena.

It shows Brussels is seeking a larger role in a region where maritime disputes and challenges to the rules-based order could threaten its interests, according to analysts.

On Friday, Philippine Foreign Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro and the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy Kaja Kallas, who is also vice-president of the European Commission, signed a joint statement regarding the enhanced partnership on the sidelines of an Asean foreign ministers’ meeting in Pasay City.

Under the agreement, the Philippines will receive a €15 million (US$17 million) support package via the European Peace Facility to strengthen its maritime domain awareness, particularly surveillance and monitoring capabilities.

“This is the first ever European Peace Facility support to be implemented in the Indo-Pacific and the clear demonstration that Europe is stepping up as a security partner in the region,” Kallas said.

Manuel Enverga III, Jean Monnet Chair of European Studies and director of the European Studies programme at the Ateneo de Manila University, described the Philippines as a “test case” for the EU as it expands its Indo-Pacific strategy from “a connectivity agenda into a genuinely geopolitical one”.

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