EU-Pakistan: the way ahead

[LahoreEstate]

But that’s beside the point. The long-awaited encounter provided definite proof that Pakistan is finally and slowly climbing up the EU’s crowded foreign policy agenda.

Even more importantly, the meeting illustrated a simple reality: if your country has no oil, no markets and is in desperate need of international trade and aid concessions, it’s best to come to Europe as the leader of a democratically elected government. True, EU doors did open in the past for former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf.
Pakistan’s role as a pivotal ally in the Bush administration’s ‘war on terror’ meant the general got a hearing at both the EU and Nato and in national European capitals. But even as they met the former president — who made it a point to wear civilian gear in Europe — EU leaders made it clear their heart wasn’t really in it.

The EU-Pakistan summit on June 17, in contrast, was a celebration of Pakistani democracy. The final joint statement underlined, the EU ‘welcomed Pakistan’s major progress in transition to democratic civilian rule…and appreciated Pakistan’s efforts to realise the vision of a democratic, progressive, welfare state, committed to the consolidation of democratic institutions’.

An EU diplomat told this correspondent: ‘This meeting was about supporting the civilian government and civilian structures. It was about backing democracy in Pakistan.’

The point was also highlighted by Pakistan. ‘We have received positive assurances that no dictator will be welcomed in the halls of the EU,’ President Asif Ali Zardari told reporters after the summit. In fact, Mr Zardari got much more, including a promise to kick-start an EU-Pakistan strategic dialogue covering security, aid and trade, a pledge to boost the EU’s humanitarian relief effort for refugees displaced by the military offensive against the Taliban and a commitment to improve access to the EU market for Pakistan’s exports.

‘What we have is a good medium-term agenda for EU-Pakistan relations,’ said an EU diplomat, adding that the mood music at the meeting had been ‘very positive’ despite some tense exchanges over Pakistan’s demands for immediate improvements in the trade sector. ‘It was an equal exchange…no lectures,’ the diplomat added.

At the press conference and at the meeting itself, EU leaders said they were impressed by Islamabad’s new-found resolve to fight the Taliban but also urged closer cooperation with Afghanistan and rapprochement with India. Frequently evoking the memory of his ‘martyred wife’, Mr Zardari, in turn, insisted on the need for international help to maintain the struggle against militants, focused on Iran’s regional importance and spent some time voicing sympathy for the plight of Burmese opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who just spent her 64th birthday in detention.

Democracy was a family and if one member is under stress, ‘we all hurt,’ President Zardari reportedly told EU leaders who have also repeatedly called for the release of Ms Suu Kyi.

As expected, there were no breakthroughs on Pakistan’s trade demands but EU leaders promised to look at a free-trade agreement with Pakistan as an ‘option in the long term’ and said the focus would also be on short-term measures to help Islamabad diversify exports and attract investments. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the EU was looking at ‘adequate measures’ to help improve Pakistan’s access to European markets. But support for any changes in market access would be needed from all 27 EU member states and signatories to the World Trade Organisation.

That is not going to be easy. Islamabad’s argument that it represents a ‘unique case’ in the trade sector which requires special attention has won a sympathetic hearing in Brussels and some other EU capitals. There is also recognition that Pakistan needs to boost its exports as part of a broader economic expansion programme aimed at improving living conditions for its population. However, while Britain is spearheading calls for a more generous trade regime for Pakistan, several key EU member states are still not convinced of the need for such action.

Those still opposing new measures for Pakistan are believed to include key EU textile-producing nations, Portugal, Spain and Greece, with heavyweights France and Germany still undecided on whether to back Britain. EU policymakers say that while Pakistan is not eligible for entry into the current GSP Plus scheme, a future GSP regulation could be redesigned to include new beneficiaries, including possibly Pakistan.

For the moment, as highlighted by the joint statement, the focus is on helping Pakistan to meet the EU’s sanitary and phyto-sanitary requirements for fishery and other products. The EU is also pushing for more intra-regional trade and says Pakistan must start diversifying its export base. The summit also resulted in both sides’ agreeing to start a dialogue to improve Pakistan’s counter-terrorism capabilities, notably in the field of law-enforcement and criminal justice and support for Pakistan’s police forces. EU foreign and security policy chief Javier Solana is expected to visit Pakistan in the coming weeks to thrash out details of the aid package. While all this is impressive, both sides will have to work hard in the months ahead to ensure that the ambitious agenda set out is implemented in full.

For Pakistan it means continuing to apply gentle though sustained pressure on policymakers not only in Brussels but also in other EU capitals. Sweden, which will take over the EU presidency from the Czech Republic on July 1, will have a crucial role to play in steering the EU debate. The summit should, therefore, be seen as a good first step in what could — with time, energy and effort — become a mutually beneficial partnership. But promises made at the meeting have to be fulfilled. And above all, Pakistan has to stay the course in fighting extremism and consolidating its still fragile democracy

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