The ASEAN PROJECT & REGIONAL INTEGRATION

CHARLES SANTIAGOJakarta - June, 2012

ASEAN Economic Community: Purpose: regional economic integration by 2015

AEC envisages the following key characteristics:

a single market and production base

a highly competitive economic region

a region of equitable economic development

a region fully integrated into the global economy

A region with free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labour, and freer flow of capital

ASEAN Economic Blueprint (20 November 2007)

Core Provisions of the Charter (2003): ‘ASEAN Community’ 3-pillar structure

Interdependent and related

Blueprints for implementation

ASEA

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ASEA

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ASEA

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Changing Dynamics in Changing Dynamics in EU–ASEAN RelationsEU–ASEAN Relations

New initiatives to foster EU—ASEAN cooperation: Bilateral

Region-to-region

European Commission: “A New Partnership with Southeast Asia” (2003) and Global Europe: negotiating better access for EU exporters to the dynamic ASEAN market was a priority under the new trade strategy

ASEAN: ASEAN Vision 2020 and Vientiane Action Programme (2004)

EUs Trade Policy in Asia.

EU’s ‘Towards A New Asia Strategy’ (1994) states:

“ to pursue all actions necessary to ensure open markets and a non-discriminatory business environment conducive to an expansion of European trade and investments”

What Does EU’s Policy Demand of Asia?

Liberalisation – opening up and creating a non-discriminatory environment for European business;

Regulatory changes - towards a pro-business environment;

Convergence – Asian economies need to follow EU standards & QC, certification and custom procedures;

Integration - of Asian economies to European economies and business practices.

Underlying “enhanced partnership” =

proposed EU-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement Strategic aim: enhance ASEAN’s own economic integration

with the aim of creating an Economic Community by 2015

May 2007: Joint Ministerial Statement on the Launch of Negotiations for the ASEAN-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA): “providing for comprehensive trade and investment liberalisation”

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht (2010): “European investors need open, sound and predictable

business environments to thrive and these proposals aim to strengthen the EU’s ability to ensure a level playing field for them. In the long run, a comprehensive investment policy will keep Europe as the world’s number one player in the field of foreign direct investment, ensure the best deal for all European businesses, invigorate growth and create jobs at this crucial time.”

First ASEAN–EU Business Summit (Jakarta, May 2011)

To ‘bring together entrepreneurs as well as public and private investors from both ASEAN and EU to address critical issues related to EU–ASEAN trade relations, while identifying new business and investment opportunities on both sides’

To ‘discuss ways in which the private sector can exchange views on ASEAN–EU trade and investment relations with governmental decision makers’

Understanding the New Interregionalism

Deeper structure of change = three Cs Politics of competitiveness Politics of regulatory convergence Politics of new constitutionalism

Politics of Competitiveness: Neoliberal policies through market-led politics New dynamics of economic and political change

pursuit and promotion of capitalist competitiveness on a global scale

Majority of governments explicitly pursue competitiveness through the reorientation of social and economic policies

International organisations / regional development banks / OECD = urging governments everywhere to reform the “business climate” in order to promote investment and domestic entrepreneurship and stimulate competition

The draft recommendations from the European

Commission to the European Council on how to set about negotiating the EU-ASEAN FTA: “new competitiveness-driven FTAs would need to

be comprehensive and ambitious in coverage, aiming at the highest possible degree of trade liberalization, including far-reaching liberalization of services and investment”

‘Reform‘ of labour markets and social institutions politics of austerity

Politics of New Constitutionalism:

Competitiveness and convergence dynamics need also to be re-shaped by long term frameworks designed to ‘lock in’ commitments to a neoliberal path of development, e.g. international agreements

‘New constitutionalism’ = political-juridical counterpart to the disciplinary neoliberalism associated with the deepening of the logic of liberalisation, market values and competitiveness

Whole array of political and legal reforms to redefine the political via a series of mechanisms: Constitutions Laws Property rights Institutional arrangements

Central objective: to prevent future governments from undoing commitments to a disciplinary neoliberal pattern of development

Seeks to contain and deflect challenges to its competitiveness and liberalisation agenda on behalf of large-scale corporate capital