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Sam Beltran

The European Union’s upgraded partnership with the Philippines signals the bloc’s intent to diversify its Indo-Pacific strategy beyond trade and into the security arena.
It shows Brussels is seeking a larger role in a region where maritime disputes and challenges to the rules-based order could threaten its interests, according to analysts.
On Friday, Philippine Foreign Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro and the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy Kaja Kallas, who is also vice-president of the European Commission, signed a joint statement regarding the enhanced partnership on the sidelines of an Asean foreign ministers’ meeting in Pasay City.
Under the agreement, the Philippines will receive a €15 million (US$17 million) support package via the European Peace Facility to strengthen its maritime domain awareness, particularly surveillance and monitoring capabilities.
“This is the first ever European Peace Facility support to be implemented in the Indo-Pacific and the clear demonstration that Europe is stepping up as a security partner in the region,” Kallas said.
Manuel Enverga III, Jean Monnet Chair of European Studies and director of the European Studies programme at the Ateneo de Manila University, described the Philippines as a “test case” for the EU as it expands its Indo-Pacific strategy from “a connectivity agenda into a genuinely geopolitical one”.
“The Philippines is important not only as a trade and development partner, but also because it sits along one of the Indo-Pacific’s principal geopolitical fault lines,” he said, noting the EU’s growing emphasis on maritime security.

Dindo Manhit, president of the Manila-based Stratbase Institute think tank, said the Philippines played “a significant, if not among the most important” role in the EU’s Indo-Pacific strategy because of its location.
“It sits along some of the world’s most vital sea lanes and is directly exposed to tensions in the South China Sea, making its security and stability relevant not only to Southeast Asia but also to Europe’s economic and strategic interests,” Manhit said.
He added that the EU also recognised that the Philippines had a growing network of bilateral, minilateral, and multilateral partnerships that few other countries in the region could match.
Matteo Piasentini, a geopolitical analyst for Italian think tank Geopolitica.info, said closer Manila-Brussels ties dated to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to the Philippines in 2023.
“Given the complexity of the EU’s external relations architecture, the fact that the EU is consistently showing up in the Philippines indicates a phase of growing interest and deepening ties,” said Piasentini, who also lectures on international relations at the University of the Philippines Diliman’s political science department.
Challenges to rules-based order
While the €15 million package alone would not transform the Philippines’ maritime capabilities, it could serve as an important starting point for further EU support over the long term, Manhit said.
Enverga described the money as a “down payment” towards deeper security cooperation between the EU and the Philippines.


“The European Peace Facility finances defence and security help, and its use in the Philippines marks a notable expansion beyond the EU’s traditional role as a trade, regulatory, and development actor,” he said.
Piasentini called the package “a stepping stone”, saying the EU would assess how the funds were used before committing to deeper cooperation with the Philippines.
Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, a member of the Academic Council at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, said the Manila-Brussels partnership could become a springboard for the EU to widen its engagement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
“The EU has elevated Asean on its radar, and this is driven by an urgency to diversify and to be prepared for uncertainty,” Ferenczy said.
Analysts say the joint statement also reflects the EU’s mounting concern over challenges to the rules-based order – from the war in Ukraine to clashes in the South China Sea – and its desire to be a “stabilising partner” in the Indo-Pacific.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and uncertainty surrounding long-term US commitments have reinforced the view that European and Indo-Pacific security can no longer be treated as separate,” Enverga said.
“Trade remains central, but the EU increasingly sees its economic interests and the defence of the rules-based order as mutually reinforcing rather than separate objectives.”
The EU had emphasised respecting the 2016 international arbitral ruling that found in favour of the Philippines and viewed South China Sea territorial disputes as “a test of whether international rules can constrain the behaviour of more powerful states”, he added.
Piasentini said the EU recognised that the rules-based order “can no longer be taken for granted” and that the Philippines’ maritime dispute with Beijing was a major concern “both in terms of upholding international law and addressing the potential economic consequences of a change in the regional order in the South China Sea”.


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Analysts say the European Union considers Manila ‘the most important’ partner for its Indo-Pacific strategy


Analysts say the European Union considers Manila ‘the most important’ partner for its Indo-Pacific strategy.


EU’s US$17 million maritime aid for Philippines targets Asian ‘fault lines’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Analysts say the European Union considers Manila ‘the most important’ partner for its Indo-Pacific strategy

Analysts say the European Union considers Manila ‘the most important’ partner for its Indo-Pacific strategy