The Liaison Committee of Development NGOs to the EU held its annual conference in Brussels as part of the events around its 25th General Assembly in Brussels on 15-16 April. The theme of the conference this year was the ‘evolving role of NGOs in development co-operation’.
In his opening speech, the Chairman of the Liaison Committee, Mr Mike Aaronson said while progress had been made in co-operation between NGOs and the European Commission, NGOs are still extremely frustrated over the Commission’s cautious and cumbersome management. Avoiding risks seem to be the primary objective, even at the expense of development co-operation. He questioned why the Commission demands bank guarantees for funds going to NGOs, when it is current practise in Europe for governments to cover the risks of European enterprises that export to or invest in the South. Several NGO contracts have been blocked since last December because of this demand for bank guarantees. On the reorganisation of the Commission, Mr Aaronson said NGOs would be willing to support the appointment a single Commissioner for development if it would bring greater coherence in policy.
In the response from the Commission, Mr. Carlos Costa speaking on behalf of EU Development/ACP Commissioner, Joao de Deus Pinheiro, admitted that there was a need to find a way of guaranteeing the simplicity of procedures. He said procedures that were used for co-operation with NGOs were designed for co-operation with commercial agencies. He however added that NGOs would have to adopt better procedures of self- control so as to assure the Commission that they are dependent and reliable.
Dr. Michael Hoffman, Director General of EU Development at the German Ministry of Economic Co-operation said NGOs were the only organisations capable of securing real access to populations inaccessible to public development assistance. He said that among the priorities of the German Presidency, was the strengthening of civil society actors in the ACP. This should be mentioned in the next Lomé Agreement, and a mechanism for dialogue should be a pre-condition for programming.
Mr. Giampero Alhadaeff of SOLIDAR, speaking on behalf of the platform of EU Social NGOs, lamented that NGOs had failed to get civil society participation written into the EU’s Amsterdam Treaty. He said discussions on the Treaty will be re-opened during the upcoming Finnish Presidency of the EU (July-December 1999). NGOs must then campaign for civil society participation to be mentioned explicitly.
Following the opening speeches the meeting broke up into three working groups. The working groups dealt with the following issues: 1) Reinforcing complementarity between the actors involved in the development process, in particular civil society actors; 2) Increasing the efficiency and impact of European NGDO interventions; and 3) Increasing the transparency and accountability of all the actors involved in development.
The working groups were followed by discussions with the Commission and EU Permanent Representatives and Members of the European Parliament. For more information you can contact the Liaison Committee at: Tel: 00 32 2 743 87 60; e-mail: [email protected]
2. EU REACTION TO WTO RULING ON ITS BANANA REGIME
The three reports by the WTO Expert Panel who ruled against the EU’s banana trade regime with ACP countries have been made public. The ruling was in response to EU reforms adopted last year on its banana trade system with traditional banana producers in the ACP, following a previous WTO panel ruling against the EU’s previous regime. The earlier panel's ruling was on the grounds that the EU's regime was discriminatory towards other banana producers, particularly those from Latin America. The US has spearheaded a campaign supporting bananas from Latin American countries, which are marketed by US company Chiquita, against the EU trade regime. Washington recently imposed sanctions on a number of EU products in protest against the EU Regime.
The first WTO Report sets the amount of sanctions the US can levy on the EU as € 191.4 million, thus reducing by two thirds the amount initially decided by the US. The panel experts refused to include the evaluation of injury to American exports of fertiliser used for banana production. The Report also expressed the view that injury must be evaluated for all American operators in the banana trade and not just for one alone, as the US would have liked.
The Second Report sets out the aspects of the scheme that infringe WTO rules. These are: a) the system of a ‘single pot’ licence allocation for a quota of 875 700 tonnes of duty free bananas; b) the reference period chosen for assigning Ecuador with 26.17% of the quota of 2.5 million tonnes of ‘dollar’ bananas; c) the criteria defining ACP ‘traditional exporters’, which prevent new Ecuadorian exporters from emerging on the EU market. The Report recommends that the EU could either: i) establish a preferential system for ACP States based solely on the reduction of customs duties, without quotas; ii) set up a tariff system with a specific quota for the ACP States authorised by an ad hoc WTO waiver; iii) maintain the current quota system but abolish country specific allocations or negotiate the allocation in agreement with the country concerned.
Following the WTO Expert Panel’s ruling, the European Commission will propose to EU member States that they make a choice between two options: appealing before the WTO; or modifying its banana regime. According the EU press reports the Commission favours the latter option. The Commission however insists that it will continue its action against the US on the sanctions the US unilaterally imposed on the EU and the section of US trade law that authorise such unilateral trade sanctions.
3. ACP-EU NEGOTIATIONS
The ACP Working Group of Regional Experts assisting the ACP states in the ACP-EU negotiation process for a new co-operation framework agreement, met in Brussels this week. They were assigned to examine all option pertaining to alternative trade arrangements with the EU (i.e. options to the current EU non-reciprocal trade preferences to the ACP and the EU’s proposed Regional Economic Partnership Agreements). During this preliminary meeting the group agreed to come up with something concrete before the next ACP-EU Ministerial Negotiating meeting on July 28-29 in Brussels. The group also planned to distribute earlier work prepared by regional experts on key issues of the negotiations. The next round of the negotiations at ambassadorial level takes place on April 20-21 in Brussels.
4. EU MINSTERS DIVIDED OVER STRATEGY TO ASSIST KOSOVO REFUGEES
EU ministers remain divided over how to help the thousands of refugees fleeing Kosovo. At a meeting of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers last week, the majority of EU ministers rejected a German plan to set up EU member state quotas for admitting refugees. The EU’s two strongest military powers argued that setting national quotas would encourage Yugoslav President Milosevic to continue to expel people from Kosovar. The Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Luxembourg and the European Commission favour a long term strategy to deal with mass influxes of refugees.
However ministers agreed that refugees might have to be temporarily airlifted to EU Member States to avoid destabilising Macedonia and Albania where most of the 500 000 Kosovar refugees are sheltering. Many observers believe that an agreement on a strategy on how to handle the refugees will not be reached before the EU’s Special Summit in October.
The European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), a non-governmental organisation, has proposed three key principles to guide EU action for Kosovar refugees: 1) participation in any humanitarian evacuation to the EU or other states must be voluntary – refugees must be clearly informed where they are being sent; 2) reception arrangements for Kosovar refugees must correspond to international protection standards; and 3) any protection offered in the EU or other countries must guarantee the rights set out in the 1951 Refugee Convention.
The EU has recently suggested that it is prepared to temporarily take over the administration of Kosovo once NATO strikes have achieved their aim. According to French President, Jacques Chirac, "the EU has the vocation and capacity to fill this role".