1. NGDO REPRESENTATIVES MEET WITH COMMISSION TO DISCUSS CIVIL SOCIETY PARTICPATION IN THE LOME PROCESS
Representatives from NGDOs – ENDA TM (Senegal), INZET, Eurostep Secretariat, the Liaison Committee of Development NGOs and APRODEV met this week with functionaries from the European Commission’s Development Directorate (DG VIII) to discuss proposals aimed at enhancing civil society participation in the Lomé process. The NGOs presented the provisional conclusions of the NGO desk study developed by INZET on ACP civil society experiences in dialogue with ACP and EU authorities. The study concludes, inter alia, that: 1) In most cases the ACP non-governmental sector has taken the initiative to organise national consultative meetings. This has led to the setting up of national consultative committees comprising of both civil society and government authorities in many ACP countries. 2) There is a need to sensitise the EU delegations in ACP countries towards the support of civil society actors. For more information of these provisional conclusions of the study you can contact the Eurostep secretariat or INZET (Tel: 00 31 20 627 33 39)
Among the concerns the Commission raised in the discussions were: 1) The danger of over institutionalising civil society in the quest to enhance civil society participation. 2) Assigning the EU with too much responsibility in enabling the process of dialogue with civil society may bring in to question ACP ownership of the process. 3) EU Delegations in the ACP find it difficult to cope with demands being asked of them in reaching out to civil society in ACP countries because of their scarce human and financial resources as well as the EU’s wish to stay out of the sensitive political affairs of a country.
The Commission is currently in the process of finalising concrete proposals for civil society participation that will be fed into the ACP-EU negotiation process for a new framework agreement. The NGOs and the Commission agreed to meet at a later date to further discuss these proposals.
2. COMMISSION SIGNS MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSATNDING WITH GERMAN DEVELOPMENT BANK FOR GREATER CO-ORDINATION AND CO-OPERATION
The Commission has signed a memorandum of understanding with the development bank of the Federal Republic of Germany, for greater co-ordination of their respective development co-operation policies with the ACP countries. The agreements allows for: 1) Aid co-ordination by sector and by country between the two institutions in all countries in which they are represented. 2) Co-ordination of methods and joint evaluations of projects. The results of these evaluations will be made public. 3) The entrustment, by the Commission to the German Bank, with the execution of co-funded projects. Contracts for supplies and services would be concluded according to the rules and procedures of the Commission. This memorandum of understanding is the first of its kind between the Commission and a development agency of an EU member state.
3. EU DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL TO CALL FOR SHAKE UP EU DEVELOPMENT POLICY
According to European press reports, EU development ministers are set to call on the Commission to draft an up-to-date statement on EU development policy by mid 2000 to replace the system of the adoption of numerous resolutions, rulings and declarations, when the EU Development Council meets on 21 May. In response to the report on the Evaluation of EU Aid that was released early this year, EU ministers are calling for European Community development policy to pay greater attention to achieving specific goals such as poverty reduction, sustainable development and gender issues. Most EU Member States are also of the view that a single Commission division instead of the six divisions managing aid at present should manage development aid. The ministers will also argue on the basis of the Committee of Independent Experts’ report that came out earlier this year (see PAF 125) that the Commission is not sufficiently resourced to manage all the development programmes it currently administers. Rather than freeing up more funds they will call for a streamlining of the fragmented and often cumbersome funding mechanisms.
Other items on the agenda of the Development Council may include a draft resolution on complementarity; a resolution on small arms; the private sector and development; integration of the environment into EU development co-operation the future of the Food Aid Convention; and conclusions on the report: "Democratisation, the rule of law, respect for human rights and good governance". It now seems evident that the Commission will not present the report on the coherence of EU policies as earlier announced. This report may now only be presented at the EU Development Council in November under the Finnish Presidency.
4. EUROSTEP HOLD FOLLOW-UP DISCUSSION ON IMPACT SOUTH AFRICA-EU AGREEMENT ON FUTURE ACP-EU TRADE ARRANGEMENTS
The Eurostep secretariat is planning, on 1 June in Brussels, organise a follow-up discussion to the meeting held on 5 May on the impact of the conclusion of the South Africa Free Trade Agreement on the negotiations for future trade arrangements between the ACP and the EU (see PAF 132). Participants will include ACP ambassadors, Commission personnel and EU Permanent Representatives in Brussels. Panellists will include Carl Greenidge, the Deputy Secretary-General of the ACP. For more information contact the Eurostep secretariat.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
| 17 May Brussels | EU Foreign Ministers meet. Agenda includes South Africa, Mercorsur, Hurricane Mitch and Egypt |
| 18 May Brussels | EU Agricultural Ministers meet. Agenda includes trade in bananas and the effect of Kosovo conflict on Greek agriculture |
| 21 May Brussels | EU Development Council meets. (see above 3. ) |
| 27 May, Amsterdam | INZET host ACP-EU Expert meeting on ACP-EU Trade Arrangements: Is an improved GSP a viable option (For more info Tel: 00 31 20 627 33 39) |
| 31 May, Brussels | EU Foreign ministers meet |
| 1 June, Brussels | Eurostep meeting on future trade arrangements for ACP-EU |
| 4 June Cologne | EU Heads of State meet |
| 7 June London (Wilton Park) | Europe and Asia working towards a partnership (For more info Tel: 00 31 43 325 40 30) |
IN BRIEF
The European Commission is recommending to EU ministers that the signatories of the EU-South Africa agreement should be the European Community on the one hand and South Africa on the other instead of the European Community and its Member States and South Africa as South Africa would prefer. The Commission argues that the procedure would be faster and allow co-operation to get under way rapidly. This proposal will be submitted to the General Affairs Council on 17 May.
The European Parliament has adopted resolutions on human rights infringements in several countries (Malaysia, Djibouti, Comoros) in an attempt to recall the link between EU aid and respect for human rights.
Concerning Comoros the EU is to examine its
co-operation with the country on the basis of the Lomé IV
Convention’s suspension clause. The Union issued a statement
condemning the military intervention in Comoros. Invoking the
suspension clause could eventually lead to the full or partial
suspension of aid to one of the parties of the Convention, i.e. a
single ACP State on one hand and the European Community on the
other, if one party is deemed to have violated the essential
elements (human rights, democracy and the rule of law) of the
Convention.