EU ban: the pebble in the shoe is gone
by Retno Marsudi
The writer is a senior diplomat at the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. The opinions expressed are personal.
Everybody felt relieved when the Aviation Security Committee (ASC),
during its meeting in Brussels on June 30-July 2, 2009 finally
recommended to the European Commission (EC) the positive development of
Indonesian aviation safety and recommended lifting the flight ban for
four Indonesian airlines: Garuda Indonesia, Mandala, Airfast and
PrimeAir, imposed since July 2007 as stipulated in Commission Regulation
(EC) No.787/2007.
It needs about 10-12 days for the EC to put the recommendation/opinion
of the ASC in its regulation. Why so relieved? Why this ban really
matters for the bilateral relations between Indonesia and the EU and how
the bilateral relations will shape post-ban lifting?
The flight ban was announced in the middle of the preparations of
Indonesia and the EU to embark on a new phase of bilateral relations
through finalization of a Comprehensive Partnership (PCA), in which the
negotiation of the text itself had started since March 2006. After a
10-round negotiation, both parties finally agreed on the final text on
June 12, 2007 and were ready to initial the draft on June 17, 2007. It
was very unfortunate that before the date of initialing, the ASC in its
meeting on July 6, 2007, decided to impose a flight ban on the
Indonesian airlines.
Indonesia's decision to halt the initialing process of the draft PCA was
very logical and well-understood. The agreement to have the PCA is like
a marriage proposal, to embark on a serious partnership. How can a
marriage happen if family of one party is banned to enter other party's
territory? Although when the ban was imposed, none of the Indonesian
airlines were flying to Europe, the meaning of the ban itself goes
beyond that simple economic calculation. It touched the pride of a
nation.
Whenever Indonesia and the EU met, the flight ban issue always emerged
in the discussion. It was like a pebble in a shoe. It was irritating the
relations between the two. Though both Indonesia and the EU tried very
hard to maintain good relations, the ban has affected the pace of the
bilateral relations. The process of initialing the draft PCS is just an
example. Indonesia clearly mentions that as long as the ban remains,
there will not be a PCA. The bilateral meetings were also postponed in
the last one and half years.
On top of the difficulties in its substance, the communication between
Indonesia and the EC, including at technical level, also became sour at
the very beginning of the ban. This situation did not help overcome the
problem, but rather made it worse. The communication at technical level
got better in September 2008. It started when Indonesian delegation and
the EC delegation met in Brussels to have the Senior Official Meeting
(SOM).
Both delegations agreed to set up a special forum, besides the ASC
meeting, to discuss flight ban issues. This special forum is needed to
develop trust. Everybody knows that trust is a very important element to
bridge differences. It was the first time that two delegations met in a
friendly atmosphere. It was also surprising to note that in three hours
discussion, both reached a significant development on a number of closed
findings.
At the end of the SOM, both agreed on the same data that out of 69 ICAO
(International Civil Aviation Organization)-USOAP (Universal Safety
Oversight Audit Program) findings, 33 findings were closed. The
September SOM Indonesia-EC signified an important step leading to the
better communication of the two and it was also reflected a good example
how a joint efforts between diplomacy and technical works together in
harmony to solve a problem.
The closing of the 33 findings, out of 69 findings, means that we still
have more than halfway to go. Most of them relied on the air
transportation legislation, which was finally adopted by the Indonesian
Parliament in December 2008. All the processes after September 2008 were
at full speed. The latest were, amongst other, done through a
teleconference in May 2009 and a field visit by the ASC team to
Indonesia mid-June 2009.
The ASC observed the seriousness of the Indonesian regulator (the
Transportation Ministry) as well as the operators to improve their
performance. Good communication between Jakarta and Brussels also
significantly contributed to the progress. All those good improvements
finally won the positive opinion and recommendation of the ASC.
However, the good progress of the Indonesian civil aviation should be
maintained and continuously improved in the future. It is not only
because the lifting will not last forever, as it will be monitored
regularly, but most importantly it is for the benefit of all Indonesian
airlines passengers.
If everything runs as planned, by mid July 2009, a new EC regulation
will be announced to partially annul the flight ban on Indonesian
airlines. The pebble is now gone. So what next?
The Senior Officials of Indonesia and the European Commission plan to
have a meeting in Yogyakarta mid-July. Though this meeting is a regular
annual meeting, this year's meeting becomes unusual since both will
again start the process of initialing the draft PCA.
The Comprehensive Partnership somehow is a symbol of maturity of both
parties to embark on a new partnership in their efforts to broaden and
deepen bilateral cooperation. On the draft, both agreed to prioritize
cooperation, among other, on human rights, counterterrorism, good
governance, trade, investment, industry, forestry, environment,
transportation, health, science and technology, and education.
After initialing the draft, both agreed to expedite the process of
signing by the Indonesian Foreign Minister and his counterpart in the
EC. By having the Comprehensive Partnership, the relation between
Indonesia and the EC would be more predictable and measurable.
On top of the draft PCA, both parties are now on the process of
negotiating a draft on Human Rights Dialogue. The principles of the
dialogue are basically agreed, among other, to focus more on concrete
cooperation to promote and protect human rights of both parties. A
finger-pointing- era was over. Both should use new paradigms in
approaching the human right issues to reflect the actual situation of
each party, and not to use the "old yardstick", which never brought any
benefit for either.
What we can expect from post-flight ban lifting is a better and brighter
relation between Indonesia and the EU. Focus on trade and investment
would be among the priorities. The bilateral trade of the two reached
US$18.481 billion in 2008 and showed positive trends from year to year.
The same goes for investment. But this figure doesn't reflect the actual
potential of both, taking into consideration that the Union consists of
27 countries.
Both should also be able to bridge the implementation gap of the
development cooperation. The European Commission provides Euro 480
million for development cooperation to Indonesia from 2007-2013. The
challenge of the implementation of development cooperation is its low
absorption for the projects. The simplification of application paper
work is further needed to make the absorption higher in the future.
There are a lot of lessons to be learned from the flight ban issue. The
ban was a costly experience for the bilateral relations. Let us turn
that page and start a new page of bilateral relation. With more trust
and respect, both would be able to build a more fruitful cooperation for
the future.
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