7 EU-Vietnam relations
| (32369)
18041/10
COM(10) 699
| Council Decision on the signing of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation between the European Union and its Member States and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
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| Legal base | Articles 207, 208 and 218(5) TFEU; QMV
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| Document originated | 29 November 2010
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| Deposited in Parliament | 22 December 2011
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| Department | Foreign and Commonwealth Office
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 11 January 2011
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | To be determined
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| Committee's assessment | Legally and politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information requested
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Background
7.1 In May 2007, the Council authorised the Commission to
negotiate a Framework Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation
(PCA) with Vietnam, based on the November 2004 authorisation for
negotiations with Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines,
Malaysia and Brunei. Negotiations with Vietnam were launched in
Hanoi in November 2007. Both sides initialled the PCA in Brussels
on 4 October 2010.
The Council Decision
7.2 The Council Decision authorises the President of the Council
in turn to designate a person to sign the Framework Agreement
on Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation on behalf of the
European Union. The text of the Agreement is attached to this
Decision.
7.3 The Commission notes that the PCA with Vietnam
is the third agreement finalised with an ASEAN country over the
past year, following those with Indonesia and the Philippines,
and will supersede the current legal framework of the 1995 Agreement
between the European Community and Vietnam and the 1980 Cooperation
Agreement between the European Economic Community and member countries
of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, which was extended
to Vietnam in 1999.
7.4 The Commission describes the Agreement as
another stepping stone towards enhanced political and economic
involvement of the EU in South-East Asia. It covers what it terms
the EU's standard political clauses on Human rights, international
climate change, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Small Arms and Light
Weapons, and Counter-terrorism, and implements the EU policies
on taxation as well as on migration. The PCA will, the Commission
says, provide the basis for more effective engagement by the EU
and its Member States with Vietnam in the development, trade,
economic and justice domains, and encompasses areas such as health,
environment, climate change, energy, education and culture, labour,
employment and social affairs, science and technology, and transport.
The Agreement further addresses legal cooperation, money laundering
and terrorist financing, organised crime and corruption. It also
covers areas of particular interest in the case of Vietnam such
as cooperation on human rights and the rule of law as well as
on remnants of war and natural disaster prevention. Finally, the
Commission notes, the conclusion of the PCA will facilitate the
launch and conclusion of a Free Trade Agreement with Vietnam in
accordance with the EU's objective of creating a coherent economic
and political framework for relations between the EU and ASEAN
countries.
The Government's view
7.5 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 11 January
2011, the Minister for Europe (Mr David Lidington) describes the
PCA as key to strengthening the EU's relationship with Vietnam:
"On trade and investment issues it establishes
cooperation on market access, in particular through the timely
removal of non-tariff barriers and restrictions to trade. It is
a necessary precursor to an eventual EU Free Trade Agreement with
Vietnam. On socioeconomic development and other areas of cooperation
the partnership commits to the establishment of university links,
technical assistance programmes aimed at promoting the development
of environmentally friendly technologies, and promotion of climate
change awareness. The PCA contains a legally binding commitment
by Vietnam to respect human rights as well as obligations in the
areas of Counter Terrorism and WMD."
7.6 The Minister says that several provisions
of the Agreement contain content which falls within the scope
of Title V (Area of Freedom, Justice and Security) of the Treaty
on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU), notably Articles 10, 11,
23-27:
"While as a result Protocol 21 to the TFEU (the
JHA opt-in protocol) applies to the Council Decision to sign this
agreement [sic], as the agreement is a mixed agreement (i.e. it
is between Vietnam and the EU and its Member States) it is open
to the UK to participate in these elements of the agreement in
our own right rather than to opt-in and to participate in them
as part of the EU. This position is made clear by paragraph 3
of the preamble to the Agreement noting the UK, Ireland and Denmark's
participation and by a recital to the Council Decision. In light
of these provisions we do not propose to opt-in to the Title V
elements of the agreement and will instead sign up to those obligations
in our own right."
7.7 The Minister notes that Vietnam has been
identified by the Foreign Secretary as an emerging power for engagement
and is a UKTI designated high growth market:
"In September the Foreign Secretary signed a
Strategic Partnership (classed as an Memorandum of Understanding)
with the Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister, formally
elevating our bilateral relationship in the areas of political
and diplomatic cooperation, global and regional issues, trade
and investment, sustainable socio-economic development, education
and training, science and technology, security and defence, and
people to people links."
7.8 The Minister also notes that Vietnam continues
to be a country of concern on human rights for the UK. He says
that the PCA will provide an additional channel through which
we can pursue UK objectives on human rights, and that the Government
will continue to raise its human rights concerns including freedom
of expression, media freedoms and the death penalty, with the
Vietnamese government through the biannual EU-Vietnam human rights
dialogue and bilaterally.
7.9 The Minister concludes by explaining that
the Commission's lawyers are currently reviewing the text and
will then need to clear any revisions with the Vietnamese side;
and that, once these steps are completed, the PCA will need to
go to a Foreign Affairs Council, with the Commission aiming for
signature in the first half of 2011.
Conclusion
7.10 As with its counterpart agreement with
the Philippines, which we consider in Chapter 6 of this Report,
the agreement per se is plainly to be welcomed.
7.11 However, we have the same concerns about
the "Title V" aspects of this agreement as we have with
the Philippines agreement. There, we have posed a number of questions,
all of which are pertinent to this agreement too, save that this
agreement does not cite Article 79(3) TFEU as a legal base despite
containing similar readmission obligations. We therefore ask the
Minister to address the question we raised on the Philippines
agreement in relation to this agreement as well.
7.12 We would also be grateful to know why,
unlike the Philippines agreement, the Decision to sign this agreement
does not cite readmission, transport and environment legal bases.
7.13 Until we have the Minister's response,
we shall retain the document under scrutiny.
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