Just two weeks before a key ASEAN meeting, the European Union stepped up the pressure on Burma-Myanmar and its Asian neighbours by cancelling two meetings of Asia-Europe Economics and Finance Ministers and casting further doubt on the ASEM summit scheduled for October in Hanoi.

ASEM Finance Ministers were to have met in Brussels July 5 and the Economics Ministers in September in the Netherlands. The meetings were to have been the first since the enlargement of the EU to 25 in May, a development which brought the issue to a head since EU and Asian partners had both insisted that all members of their regional groups participate and the EU refused to accept Myanmar.

Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen who chaired the Luxembourg meeting said that "Since there is as yet no agreement between both sides on the enlargement, the European side will be unable to participate in ASEM meetings between now and the Hanoi summit," he said. "That's a matter of regret to the Union, which places great value on the ASEM process, and we will therefore work closely with our Asian partners to ensure that a decision on enlargement can be taken at the Hanoi summit."

In the meantime, both regions were said to be trying to exert pressure on the military regime in Myanmar and will also have an occasion to confront the related issue of internal politics and human rights in the country and their on relations at a meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Jakarta June 30. The meetings launched by the ASEAN also involve other dialogue partners such as the EU, US and others and could be the occasion for significant talks involving Myanmar, whether or not that state sends a representative in view of the expected showdown.

Although the ASEAN members have sought to display solidarity in the past, the latest failure of the Burmese military regime to live up to its promises has seriously unnerved some of its neighbours. These had relaxed some of the pressure on the regime when it announced a “road map to democracy” in 2003 which included resumption of national discussions on a constitution and implied to its neighbours and the UN that it would release political prisoners and allow them to participate in the process, which began in May with no further gesture by the authorities.