President Marcos Jr. will raise the status of the Philippines’ European Union (EU) Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) with European officials on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-EU Commemorative Summit in Brussels in Belgium this week.
The President, in a media interview on board Flight PR001 that was bound for Brussels, said the human rights situation and issues in the Philippines should not be tied up with the GSP+.
GSP+ provides developing countries like the Philippines with a special incentive such as the duty-free entry for over 6,000 products to Europe to entice them to push for sustainable development and good governance programs.
“We’ll bring it up with the EU. I don’t think one thing should be related to the other but we’ll see,” said Marcos, referring to human rights.
Marcos is set to meet officials of the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament.
The Philippines’ GSP+ status is expected to undergo review in February as it is set to expire in December 2023.
The EU Parliament had threatened to temporarily hold trade privileges for the country amid allegations of human rights abuses and lack of press freedom.
The current trade preference scheme allows the duty-free entry of 6,274 products from the Philippines to the European Union, on the condition the government upholds 27 international conventions on human rights, labor, environment and climate action and good governance.
