EU urged to boost ties with Burma

Date: 31/03/05

The EU should step up contact with Burma's ruling military junta and revise sanctions against the country, a report sanctioned by the European Commission says.

The report, by authors Professor Robert Taylor and Morten Pedersen, puts forward an "alternative approach" to the EU policy. This includes holding high-level meetings with government officials, revising sanctions and adopting the official name of the country. It will be discussed at a Commission conference on 5 April.

A Commission delegation travelled to Burma this week to gauge the situation in the country.

Pro-democracy campaigners have attacked what they see as a shift in EU policy and the Commission's organisation of the Burma Day conference.

The report says the lack of democratic reform in the 15 years since EU sanctions were imposed calls for a change of tack. Economic engagement with the junta is needed in order to bring about economic development and democracy. "The current policies of the West, directed at isolating and undermining the government, have in reality isolated and undermined the social and economic institutions which the country requires if it is to become a viable democracy."

The Commission is worried about the efficacy of sanctions and relations with Burma acting as a brake on ties with the region.

But pro-democracy activists are not convinced and point to the country's appalling human rights record. Camilla Buzzi of Worldview's Promoting Democracy in Burma group criticised the report's authors and the selection of conference participants.

John Quigley of the European Institute for Asian Studies has urged the EU to maintain its current policy, as "some ASEAN states are voicing disquiet about the regime's unfulfilled promises and questioning whether Burma should chair ASEAN in 2006".

In a report for the European Commission Professor Robert Taylor and Morten Pedersen put forward an 'alternative approach' to the EU policy on Burma. This included holding high-level meetings with government officials, revising sanctions and adopting the official name of the country. The report was discussed at a Commission conference on 5 April 2005.

• Primary Source

EEAS: Countries: Burma http://www.eeas.europa.eu/myanmar/index_en.htm

---