The joint statement following the second EU-Pakistan Summit in Brussels attended by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was full of diplomatic niceties, signifying little. But that is hardly surprising.
The EU wants Pakistan to focus on eliminating the sources of terrorism and it acknowledged "the great sacrifices being made by the people and the security forces of Pakistan". However, the EU isn't prepared to commit greater number of men and more military materials to the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Waziristan.
Pakistan wants the EU to give it greater access to its markets. But it is not able to diversify its textile exports or improve the quality of its food and fish products to comply with the EU health standards. Pakistan is 45th in line among the EU's 200 trading partners. But its contribution is just 0.3 per cent of the total EU trade, despite the fact that the EU does not charge Pakistan full duty rates - a concession the EU gives to boost trade with this conflict-ridden country.
"We are stuck," one EU official commented on the 2007 ban on fish products from Pakistan on the grounds that the popular green lobsters were packaged for export in unhygienic conditions. When the EU sent food inspectors to Pakistan, the government was so irked that it responded by temporarily withdrawing their visa facilities. The ban is still in place and the Pakistan government has done nothing to improve and regulate the export environment of the fishing industry.
Textile exports is the other major issue. One official said the solution for Pakistan is to "diversify" because the competition is tough. Also, there is the problem of relatively poor EU member states such as Portugal, Greece and Italy which are competing for the same home market as Pakistan in textiles. Needless to say, India has adjusted to the new market needs and is now producing mobiles, cars, software, and films for export to the EU. It ranks as the EU's 7th top trading partner with over 50 billion euros in trade every year. When Pakistan demanded a zero per cent import duty regime like the one allowed to Bangladesh and Afghanistan, it was told that it was not "such an underdeveloped country". On the other hand, Sri Lanka enjoys a Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) Plus because it has signed all the required international treaties and conventions, unlike Pakistan whose case will be considered in 2013 when the FTA is reviewed.
The EU is also part of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP) network. But it hasn't coughed up any significant amounts of money to help revive Pakistan's economy whose slump is among the causes of increasing alienation and anger among the unemployed youth of the country. This is mainly because the EU (and the Euro) is in an acute financial crisis itself following the collapsing economies of Greece, Spain, and Portugal owing to irresponsible fiscal spending. Therefore, one should not expect too much of the next meeting of the FoDP which will held in Brussels in August this year.
Under the circumstances, talk of strengthening the "strategic dialogue" for peace and development through a five year engagement plan to be drawn up in due course may turn out to be a lot of hot air.
Still, there is some good news. The EU remains committed to the Malakand Development Programme and Pakistan welcomed the launch of an EU 'Civilian Capacity Building for Law Enforcement' programme to support the government's counter-terrorism efforts. This programme aims at capacity building in the field of civil law enforcement by supporting the newly established National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA) under former FIA boss Tariq Pervez in the PM's secretariat in Islamabad in becoming a fully operational and effective agency. It further supports Pakistan's authorities in the development of provincial capabilities, by working on law enforcement and criminal justice.
The EU and Pakistan have also started to work jointly towards further liberalisation of trade in goods and services in order to mutually enhance market access in accordance with the World Trade Organisation's rules and obligations. The proposed dialogue will focus on "a possible free trade agreement" while the EU explores ways to amend its preferential tariff regime (GSP+) in the context of the preparation of the next GSP Regulation, thereby allowing new beneficiaries, including possibly Pakistan, to take advantage of this scheme.
The EU is already assisting Pakistan to resume its exports of fishery products and will carry out the necessary inspection on a priority basis. The EU also says it will increase the funding for trade-related technical assistance to Pakistan.
But the proof of the pudding will be in the eating of it. EU funding under the
Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI) for the period 2011-2013 is expected to rise by 50 per cent to 75 million euros per annum. This enhanced engagement - a drop in the ocean for Pakistan - is part of the EU Action Plan for Pakistan which sets out priorities such as capacity support to the rule of law sector, support of the Malakand Development Strategy and the Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa/FATA/Balochistan Multi-Donor Trust Fund managed by the World Bank (the EU is participating as a major partner in a Post Crisis Needs Assessment).
The joint statement talks about EU's support for the Indo-Pak peace process but there is nothing concrete on offer. There is also talk of setting up an independent National Human Rights Commission in Pakistan and the EU's appreciation of Pakistan's signing of the instruments of ratification of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Torture (CAT).
The EU-Pak dialogue has now been extended beyond official levels. A small group of Pakistan's journalists from the print and electronic media was invited to Brussels for a special four-day seminar prior to the summit. Its aim was to remove confusions and misunderstandings regarding the EU's policies and to try and reach a better understanding of what makes Pakistan tick, or not. It included many meetings and briefings with senior European Commission officials who are particularly involved in EU's relations with Pakistan, along with the representatives of the Council and European Parliament.
This was also an attempt to counterbalance America's role in Pakistan and establish an EU policy footprint in the Pakistani mind. Of course, this isn't an overnight development. The EU has been a soft player all along as evidenced by the frequent stopovers of Richard Holbrooke, the special US-Pak Envoy, in Brussels in the past two years. The UK government is also seemingly keen to add the weight of the other EU countries behind its own diplomatic efforts to engage Pakistan and Afghanistan directly. Hence the nomination of special Af-Pak envoys by the UK and the major EU countries in the last year or so. "This is a new phenomenon," explains Shada Islam, an expert on EU-Pak relations, "Pakistan has been de-hyphenated with India, and simultaneously hyphenated with Afghanistan."
More ominously, there is a consensus among the European Commission officials that the developing EU-Pak relationship could be seriously undermined if democracy and human rights are derailed in Pakistan. That should give the government, the Pakistan Army, the Supreme Court, the media and the opposition pause to reflect on the increasing instability in the country.
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