The Philippines will no longer accept new grants from the
European Union (EU), the (EU)-Philippine relations,will
be on a different situation that it normally should.
Last week, President Rodrigo Duterte vented his ire against
the EU, wherein he mistakenly accused Europe for calling for the country’s
ouster from the United Nations he further told the European diplomats to leave
the country in 24 hours .
All of that was brought about by the seven-member delegation
of the International Delegates of the Progressive Alliance visited the
Philippines. The bloc clarified the delegation was not an EU mission as “falsely
reported” in the media. The staff of the President tried to control the damage,
but the president remained unapologetic and even slammed the EU gain for doing
nothing about the visit of the seven-member group- which was very critical of
the administration’s brutal drug war. *
 |
| The Philippines not accepting new grants would mean the loss of 278.73 million worth of grants, according to the European Union Ambassador to the Philippines Franz Jessen.(photo credit to gmanews) |
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano ,
made the statement that the Philippines will no longer accept new grants from
the Eu to stop the bloc’s perceived meddling in the country’s domestic affairs.
Sec. Cayetano said that while the Philippines
is being “treated as a sovereign nation,” the EU supposedly uses the aid
package as an “excuse” to criticize Manila, particularly the conduct of
Duterte’s brutal and unrelenting drug
war.
The country’s top diplomat also slammed “specific”
EU member-states and human rights groups for supposedly spreading “fake news”
to the international community and for being “biased” against the Philippines.
“The whole point of his (Duterte) speech is
that we have a problem and the problems are drugs. It’s affecting millions of
Filipinos, millions of families, and we have to do something about it,”
Cayetano told reporters in Camp Bagong Diwa.
“But certain groups are giving wrong facts—are
giving fake news. Sinisiraan tayo all over the world so that’s why he’s decided
na sa ngayon, hindi tatanggapin ang new grants from EU,” he added.
The European Union has been one the consistent
critics of Duterte’s anti-drug campaign.
EU Ambassador to the Philippines Franz Jessen
earlier said cutting aid from the 28-member bloc would mean the loss of about
€250 million or $278.73 million worth of grants. *
EU overtook the United States and Japan as
being the largest destination of exports from the Philippines in March,
according to the Philippines Statistics Authority.
With $901 million of total exports, this makes
the EU the biggest and fastest growing export market for Philippine goods.
In 2014, the Philippines was granted
beneficiary country status under the General System of Preference (GSP+) —a
preferential trade deal that allows 6,200 of its products to enter the EU
market duty free.
Grants are welcome, if no strings are attached
“With the President’s (Rodrigo Duterte) directive now, we have to communicate formally to the EU ambassador Franz Jessen that as of now hindi tayo tatanggap ng (we will not accept) aid. It should not affect our overall relationship, it should not affect our trade, it should not affect our bilateral relationship. It should not affect our working relationship,” DFA Sec. Cayetano told reporters on the sidelines of high level forum on ASEAN.(PNA) *
Grants are welcome, if no strings are attached
“With the President’s (Rodrigo Duterte) directive now, we have to communicate formally to the EU ambassador Franz Jessen that as of now hindi tayo tatanggap ng (we will not accept) aid. It should not affect our overall relationship, it should not affect our trade, it should not affect our bilateral relationship. It should not affect our working relationship,” DFA Sec. Cayetano told reporters on the sidelines of high level forum on ASEAN.(PNA) *
Report from Philstar
0 comments