EU/Singapore Partnership and Cooperation Agreement

PURPOSE: to conclude, on behalf of the Union, the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Singapore, of the other part.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the act. 

BACKGROUND: on 25 November 2004, the Council authorised the Commission to negotiate a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) with six ASEAN countries, including Singapore. Negotiations with Singapore were launched in October 2005 and finalised in May 2013. The two sides initialled the PCA in Singapore on 14 October 2013.  Negotiations were carried out in consultation with the Working Party on Asia and the Pacific (COASI), as a consultative committee.

Following the adoption of the Council Decision on the signing of the Agreement on 16 of July 2018, the Agreement was signed on 19 October 2018 in Brussels.

The PCA with Singapore is the fifth agreement with an ASEAN country, following the agreements with Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia. It will supersede the current legal framework of the 1980 Cooperation Agreement between the European Economic Community and member countries of the Association of South-East Asian Nations.

CONTENT: the Commission called on the Council to conclude, on behalf of the Union, the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Singapore, of the other part.

This agreement with Singapore constitutes a stepping stone towards enhanced political and economic involvement of the EU in South-East Asia. It will provide the basis for more effective bilateral engagement by the EU and its Member States with Singapore by strengthening political dialogue and enhancing cooperation in a broad range of areas.

The agreement covers the EU’s standard political clauses on human rights, International Criminal Court (ICC), Weapons of Mass Destructions (WMD), Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) and counter-terrorism. It also provides for the possibility of suspending the application of the Agreement or of any specific agreement in case of a violation of essential elements of the agreement, i.e. the human rights clause and the non-proliferation clause.

It also encompasses cooperation in areas such as:

• trade and investment issues, industrial policy, health, environment, climate change, energy, tax, education and culture, labour, employment and social affairs, science and technology, and transport;
• justice, freedom and security, i.e. legal cooperation, money laundering and terrorist financing, organised crime and corruption. 

The agreement establishes a Joint Committee to ensure the proper functioning and implementation of the Agreement.

It is complemented by a free trade agreement and an investment protection agreement.