On Wednesday 14 June, the European Parliament adopted two resolution reports on partnership and cooperation agreements, one with Thailand (552 votes in favour, 36 against and 24 abstentions) and the other with Malaysia (553 votes in favour, 38 against and 25 abstentions).
In the first report by Andrey Kovatchev (EPP, Bulgarian), the European Parliament highlights the fact that Thailand is an important partner in the Indo-Pacific region, which “has become one of the EU’s geopolitical priorities”. It welcomes the partnership and cooperation agreement with the country, which provides “a legal framework for enhancing long-standing, bilateral political and economic relations and collaboration on issues of global concern”.
The European Parliament also highlights the common objectives related to tackling climate change and environmental degradation. However, it expresses concern about the repression of non-violent demonstrations in Thailand in 2020 and 2021, and calls on the Thai government to guarantee freedom of expression and to take concrete action to abolish the death penalty.
The second report by Gheorghe-Vlad Nistor (EPP, Romanian) also welcomes the partnership and cooperation agreement with Malaysia, but calls on the country’s authorities to “change the discriminatory nationality and citizenship laws that undermine women’s basic human rights”, to repeal the law passed in 2016 granting extraordinary powers to the National Security Council and the security forces, to protect ethnic and religious minorities and indigenous communities, and condemns discrimination against the LGBTIQ+ community, as well as the detention and deportation of Rohingya refugees, and calls for the abolition of the mandatory use of the death penalty.
To view the resolution on Thailand: https://aeur.eu/f/7ht
To view the resolution on Malaysia: https://aeur.eu/f/7hs (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)