BAGUIO, Philippines — The envoy of the European Union in the Philippines assured Manila of continued support, as EU member states monitor the potential impact of the order of US President Donald Trump to suspend foreign aid.
EU Ambassador Massimo Santoro gave the assurance in a media conference in Baguio City on Wednesday, January 29. He was asked about the US aid freeze order, as well as the US withdrawal from the World Health Organization and the Paris climate deal, whether the EU would consider increased aid to the Philippines in light these developments.
“Very simply, on the one side, the European Union and its member states will continue supporting the Philippines because in the European Union, we have what we call the strategic autonomy. It means that we have our own way to operate, our own decision making, our own evaluation on what is needed around the globe in our view, and we have all our own cooperation mechanisms with countries including the Philippines, of course,” Santoro said in relation to the US aid suspension.
“At the same time, we need to be ready to think about the possible potential impact of the assistance, for example, by third partners,” he added.
Santoro said that considering that the US aid freeze is temporary — Trump has set a 90-day period for the aid suspension — “it’s a bit early to evaluate whether or not we would adapt our assistance; increase or not increase.”
The White House had framed Trump’s executive order — expected to last for 90 days — as a necessary “review” to ensure that aid dollars serve American interests. This is in line with Trump’s “America First” approach.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had said that he intends to discuss this with Trump, as well as the latter’s new immigration policy that will affect Filipino migrants in the US, at a still unspecified date.
Baguio visit
In an unprecedented move, envoys from 17 of the 27 EU member-states as well as the EU envoy came to Baguio for a three-day official visit to check on EU programs and to “experience first-hand information about the situation in other parts of the country,” as Santoro said.
“It is not easy to receive such a big group as ours, the ambassadors and chargés d’affaires ad interim of 17 EU Member countries, out of a total of 27 EU member states, including some ambassadors who are based out of the Philippines and who flew to the country primarily for this occasion,” he added.
Santoro said they chose Baguio for this immersion program because of the city’s programs on good governance, digitalization, and environmental sustainability, as well as its good number of universities and vibrant and creative civil society.
He said that they are impressed with the implementation of EU projects in Baguio.
These include the Child Labor-Effective Awareness and Response in CAR (CLEAR CAR) which was started last year to stop the worst forms of child labor in the region, Hooked on Books project, the Justice Zone and the Green LGU Project.
The other envoys in Baguio are Dr. Titanilla Tóth, Hungary; Michel Parys, Belgium; Raduta Dana Matache, Romania; Ioannis Pediotis, Greece; Dr. Johann Brieger, Austria; Dr. Andreas Pfaffernoschke, Germany; Marie Fontanel, France; Ričardas Šlepavičius, Lithuania; Karel Hejč, Czechia; Davide Giglio, Italy; Emma Hickey, Ireland; Saija Nurminen, Finland; Nicholas Panayiotou, Cyprus; Ambassador-designate Anna Ferry, Sweden; Chargés d’affaires ad interim Anna Krzak-Danel, Poland; and Dragan Barbutovski, Slovenia. – Rappler.com