1. IPS HOLD HEARING ON CIVIL SOCIETY AND POLITICAL PARTNERSHIP IN ACP-EU COOPERATION
IPS (Inter Press Service), an international NGO/news agency, with the support of the European Commission is holding a hearing on "Civil Society and Political Partnership in post Lomé" on 8-10 July in Brussels. The hearing is intended to contribute to the negotiations between the ACP and the EU before the ACP-EU ministerial negotiations meeting on 29-30 July. Among the topics on the agenda include: the legacy of the different UN conferences as regards to the environment, gender, human rights and the social development; the values emerging from the debate among civil society over the last decade; and transparency and accountability. The speakers include Philip Lowe (Director General of DG VIII European Commission), Carl Greenidge (Deputy Secretary-General of the ACP Secretariat), James Mackie (Secretary-General, Liaison Committee of EU NGOs) and Professor Gyimah Boadi (Centre for Democracy and Development).
In the keynote statement, Philip Lowe revealed that the EU hoped to have most of the text of the new ACP-EU framework agreement ready by the autumn. The ministerial negotiations meeting in November should then produce the basis of the new framework agreement. According to Mr Lowe half of the new agreement has already been written.
On trade the EU is proposing Regional Economic Partnership Agreements (REPAs) because: a) there is a need to make the ACP-EU trade regime compatible with WTO rules (see article 2 below); b) there is a need to generate greater intra ACP trade as well as trade with the EU; c) the EU believes regional integration is a stepping stone to multilateral liberalisation.
Mr Lowe said that to date, none of the EU-ACP instruments of co-operation have been able to tackle the causes of conflict in the ACP. He expressed his hope that in the coming months the negotiators would focus on this subject.
Mr Carl Greenidge in his presentation expressed regret that the new ideology of development gave preference to institutional and policy reform over financial assistance. He stressed that institutional and policy reform should not be addressed in isolation from financial assistance, the two have to be advanced together. He pointed out that financial assistance from developed countries is at an all time low in real terms. The ACP wants to preserve as many of the good elements of the Lomé Convention as possible. The failure of ACP-EU co-operation, he said, was more to do with implementation of the framework agreements rather than the agreements themselves.
On the EU’s aim to make the concept of good governance an ‘essential element’ of the framework agreement, he said the EU would get a more positive response from the ACP if the EU admitted that it was pushing good governance as a tool to fight corruption. He pointed out that even without good governance being enshrined as an essential element of the Lomé Convention, the EU has been able to suspend co-operation with ACP countries on the grounds of corruption. He thus questioned why the EU still wants to make good governance an essential element of the agreement.
On trade, Mr Greenidge asked if the EU could sincerely say that its proposal for REPAs would lead to a single free trade arrangement in each sub-region. If this cannot be assured then the EU’s proposal would work against regional integration in the ACP. He also asked how REPAs address the overall objective of the ACP-EU partnership, i.e. poverty eradication.
On the EU’s proposal to reduce and rationalise the financial instruments of ACP-EU co-operation, he said while the ACP agreed with the rationalisation of instruments it could not agree with the reduction of instruments. He said if the EU agrees to have more policy targets in its co-operation with the ACP it follows that it should have more instruments to achieve the different policy targets.
In the ensuing debate Mr Philip Lowe argued that there is no alternative trade arrangement to REPAs. He stated clearly that the EU would not be imposing REPAs on the ACP in a given timeframe, rather the ACP would be in the driving seat in determining how best it can achieve regional integration and enhance its capacity to trade. (A questioned followed on the state and condition of the car)
The PAF will provide further information on the discussions from the Hearing in the coming weeks.
2. EU NGDO NETWORKS CALL ON EU TO ADDRESS THE CRITICAL ISSUES REQUIRED FOR FORTHCOMING ACP-EU MINISTERIAL NEGOTIATING MEETING TO ACHIEVE AIMS OF ACP-EU PARTNERSHIP
Eurostep, the NGDO-Liaison Committee, APRODEV (Association of World Council of Churches related Development Organisations in Europe), WIDE (Women in Development Europe), CIDSE (International Co-operation for Development and Solidarity) and EURODAD (European Network on Debt and Development) have called on the EU, to address the critical issues required for the forthcoming ACP-EU ministerial negotiating meeting 29-30 July to achieve the aims of the ACP-EU partnership.
In a letter addressed to Mr Philip Lowe (European Commission) and Ms Satu Hassi, President in Office of EU Development Council, the NGOs identify a wide range of issues that should be anchored in the objectives, goals and content of the new EU-ACP partnership. These include the eradication of poverty, the full realisation of all human rights and fundamental freedoms (including women’s rights) and measures to make structural adjustment more compatible with poverty eradication. Particular emphasis is giving to the importance of gender equality as a crosscutting issue of key significance in all areas of the partnership, including macroeconomic policies and trade which have important differential impacts on women and men living in poverty. Though the EU and the ACP both recognise in principle the central importance of gender, it appears little progress towards giving substance to this is being made in the negotiations. "Mainstreaming of gender equality needs to be a basic approach throughout the new agreement. The principles of the agreement should bind the parties to protect women’s rights (including reproductive rights) as human rights."
The letter identifies the critical areas (civil society participation, trade co-operation and financial assistance)that should be addressed in order to make the ministerial negotiations meeting successful. On civil society participation, the NGO networks call for the ACP-EU agreement to specify the role of civil society actors and give formal expression to their involvement in all areas of the partnership.
On trade the letter points out that REPAs, put forward as a means of making the ACP-EU trade regime WTO-compatible, are not themselves not guaranteed to be WTO compatible. (See Philip Lowe’s comments in article 1) The letter argues that the time frame (5 years) proposed by the EU to establish these REPAs is also unrealistic. "A ten-year WTO waiver of the current trade regime, while not a long-term solution, would give the ACP countries time to prepare and make an informed choice about what strategy to follow. As matters stand, the ACP are being asked to negotiate REPAs (and, in effect, their own regional customs unions) and negotiate in the WTO in parallel during the EU’s proposed five-year transition period."
On finance, while the NGOs acknowledge that discussion on the level of finance fall outside the negotiations with the EU, they call on the EU, in the light of the extraordinary demands for reconstruction and economic re-activation in the Balkans, to give strong signals about the level of financial support for the next ACP-EU agreement. The level of finance should be at least equivalent in real terms to the level of new resources made available under the present Lomé Convention.
You can obtain a full copy of the letter from Eurostep Secretariat.
3. IN BRIEF
The European Commission has adopted this week the position and objectives it will recommend that the EU adopt for the Millennium WTO round of negotiations. The Commission, among other things, call for more advanced liberalisation and regulation in agriculture, services, custom duties, investment and competition. The Commission position will now be submitted to the EU Council and European Parliament for approval.
The fifth ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) of senior
officials was held in Brussels this week to prepare for the
October ministerial meeting and the WTO negotiations. The issues
on the agenda include the development of the ASEM Trade
Facilitation Action Plan (TFAP).