Page 17 - EU_ASEN Relations: Perspectives From Malaysia

ASEAN having various political systems and stark differences in the size of

their economies and populations (Morales, 2017).

Human rights problems have been an issue for many ASEAN states such as

Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Laos, creating an obstacle for
the EU given its requirement to consider human rights in its trade policies.

While ASEAN is loosely modelled on the European Union, it has yet to
establish successfully common standards that includes the free movement of

goods, capital, and labour (Morales 2017). On the other hand, the ASEAN

Economic Community (AEC) was formally established at the end of 2015.
Under the name of the economic community, ASEAN countries promised to

implement ambitious plans such as the free movement of goods and services,
as well as a freer flow of capital and skilled labour (ASEAN, 2017c).

The EU, however, was aware that negotiating an agreement with a single
nation would be less complicated. Such talks have had mixed success, with

deals so far agreed only with Singapore and most recently, Vietnam, which is
yet to be implemented (Morales, 2017).

Other ongoing trade issues between the EU and ASEAN countries include the
strict conditions imposed by EU on certain export goods from ASEAN such as

th
palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia. Recently, on 4 of April 2017, the
European Parliament (EP) adopted the Resolution on Palm Oil and
Deforestation of Rainforests, aiming to reduce the negative impacts of

deforestation due to unsustainable or illegal palm oil production (Singapore
Institute of International Affairs, 2017). However, this new palm oil

registration would only be legally enforceable if the European Commission
and Council approved the EP resolution. The European Commission is

expected to publish a proposal on the palm oil registration before the end of

2017 (The Guardian, 2017). In any case, there are two controversial proposals

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