Probably not, as the process of regional cooperation in the ASEAN nations has never been seen as strategic but rather instrumental, just a tool to deal with existing problems rather than a visionary end in itself like the European Union project.

This has been a problem for Europeans and only in the last few years, there has been a genuine attempt to shore up their engagement in the region. Yet it is hard to win over the high levels of pragmatism that the ASEAN nations expect.

Especially when the EU has a credibility problem with ASEAN, as well explained by the Carnegie Europe report, “Reimagining EU-ASEAN Relations: Challenges and Opportunities”, edited by Lizza Bomassi. Seen as too close to the United States, the EU also appears to lack the teeth to project its power but also the strength to enforce it.

According to Frederic Grare and Lay Hwee Yeo, the authors of the report’s chapter on the security dimension of the ASEAN-EU partnership, the EU has a problem of perception and credibility.

“ASEAN’s perception of the EU as primarily an economic and normative actor and the view that the union’s posture is too closely aligned to that of the United States constrains what the EU can achieve in security cooperation with ASEAN. The EU is of value to ASEAN as a strategic partner because of what the union claims it wishes to do: be strategically autonomous and act in partnership with others to uphold multilateralism and a rules-based order.”

While no one in ASEAN would expect the EU to move away from Washington on core global strategic issues, the ASEAN leaders want clear tangibles in their relationship with the Europeans.