Analysis by Máté Szakáli
Among all the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ Dialogue Partners the ASEAN and the European Union share the longest history of cooperation and expanding engagement, going back to 1972, and have strong economic relations including the EU’s financial and technical assistance supporting ASEAN’s economic integration. But the long-planned launch of ASEAN-EU Strategic Partnership was postponed January 2019 as interest groups continue to impose pre-conditions to interregional and bilateral trade negotiations or ratifications over varied reasons, often stemming from domestic politics and short-term interest.
Hence, the EU’s many recommendations in recent years to deepen the relationship, for instance, has not received a comprehensive and positive response from ASEAN. Responsibility for the current state of affairs is apparently assigned to each other by both integrations, on the EU’s part to some extent as a result of misplaced expectations regarding the progress of ASEAN Economic Community. This study aims to overview this current state and trajectory of the bi-regional economic relations and assesses its challenges and prospects for the EU concerning the integration process of the ASEAN Economic Community.