1. 2nd ACP SUMMIT SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – 25-26 NOVEMBER -
WTO DEPUTY DIRECTOR SAYS NO WTO RULE FORCES THE EU TO CHANGE PREFERENTIAL AGREEMENTS WITH THE ACP
Position on ACP-EU Negotiations
The ACP Heads of State meeting at the 2nd ACP Summit in Santo Domingo adopted positions on two of the problematic areas of the ongoing ACP-EU negotiations – trade and good governance. On future trading arrangements, the ACP continue to propose an improvement to the present system for access for their products to the EU market for a period of ten years, in preparation for future trading arrangements, which should begin in 2006. To this end, the Heads of State request for a ten-year waiver for the maintenance of the system of non-reciprocal trade preferences. In the meantime all alternatives to the Commission’s proposal of free trade based Regional Economic Partnership Agreements (REPAs) will be evaluated. ACP States are still of the view that REPAs are not suitable for the ACP.
Surprisingly the ACP position’s received a boost from an unlikely source. Miguel Rodriguez Mendoza, the Deputy Director of the WTO, who was invited to the Santo Domingo meeting, vigorously denied the existence of a single WTO rule that would make it compulsory to transform ACP preferential agreements into free trade agreements. According to Mendoza “never has a request for a preferential agreement been refused”, citing the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) countries free trade agreement with the US as an example.” In his view the only obligation imposed by the WTO on its members is to request for a waiver from the WTO 90 days in advance of the foreseen date for implementation of preferential trade. Speaking to astounded journalists who had just witnessed the demolition of the EU’s main argument underpinning its proposal for REPAs, i.e. the quest for WTO compatibility, Mr Mendoza stated that “the EU is free to negotiate as it thinks best with its ACP partners”. On the duration of the waiver, the Deputy Director said, it is up to the ACP and the EU to reach an agreement on the duration solicited, “we have never had any problems so far”. You may note that with less than 90 days before the expiry date of the present ACP-EU Convention, the EU has thus far failed to request for a waiver from the WTO.
The ACP and EU Council of Ministers meet on 7-8 December for what many had hoped would be the last Ministerial negotiating conference before the adoption of a new ACP-EU Agreement because of apparent agreement on both sides to the so called ACP-EU compromise on trade (see PAF 156).
On good governance, as the EU appears to have agreed that the ‘governance’ need not be an essential element of the ACP-EU Agreement, the ACP agreed to a definition of the concept, that stresses on the transparent and responsible management of resources.
On the issue of the level of finance provided for ACP countries under the 9th European Development Fund (EDF), the Heads of States described the European Commission proposal that the 9th EDF maintain the real value of the 8th EDF as insufficient. Rejecting the argument that the ACP still has a huge backlog of funds from the 8th EDF, they pointed out that this backlog was due to the EU’s tardiness in ratifying the present Lomé Convention. Eurostep have learnt that many EU Member States plan to reject the Commission’s proposal of maintaining the real value of the EDF when the issue is to be decided at the EU General Affairs Council on 6 December. Rather many Member States are calling for keeping the 9th EDF at just the nominal value of the 8th EDF. The Finnish Presidency are putting forward a proposal whereby the amount for 9th EDF represents an 5% increase to the nominal value of the 8th EDF. This however still falls short of the maintenance of the real value of the 8Th EDF.
Declaration of the 2nd ACP Summit
At the close of the Summit, the ACP Heads of State adopted a Declaration as they had done at the first ACP Summit in Libreville. Sub-headings of the Declaration include: Contributing to Peace and Security, Undertaking Sustainable Development, Revitalising Intra ACP Co-operation, Promoting a Targeted ACP-Third Party Co-operation and Adapting ACP Institutions to Current Changes.
The Declaration also includes a Plan of Action that inter alia: a) Mandates ACP Council of Ministers to seek the participation of the EU in an initiative which would share data on the flow of European made arms to ACP countries. b) Mandates ACP Foreign and Finance Ministers to pursue the establishment of an International Convention to facilitate the recovery of and repatriation of funds illegally appropriated from national treasuries. c) Calls on ACP States to that have not yet done so to ratify the Multilateral Agreements on the Environment and Development. d) Mandates the ACP Ministers of Trade to ensure that development is at the heart of any WTO trade negotiations. e) Mandates the ACP Council of Ministers to establish a Forum composed of intergovernmental regional integration institutions of the ACP Group, with a view to reinforcing the process of regional integration. The forum should provide for the involvement of civil society including experts and academics. f) Mandates the Council of Ministers to initiate action for urgently pursuing closer political and economic relations with other regional organisations in North Africa, the Middle East, Asia, North and Latin America. g) Mandates the ACP Council of Ministers to establish, well before the next Summit an ACP consultative mechanism, which would convene to discuss any EU allegations, against an ACP State or serious violations of the Lomé Convention. h) Mandates the ACP Council of Ministers to complete by 31 December 2000 the establishment of the new institutions of the ACP Group.
The Declaration is available on the ACP website at www.oneworld.org/acpsec/gb/summit2/2801599e.htm
Election of a new Secretary General
Mr Jean-Robert Goulongana, Gabon’s Ambassador to the EU was elected as the next Secretary General of the ACP at the Summit. He will succeed the present Secretary General, Mr Magande, of Zambia on March 1 2000. According to an ACP civil servant, the election of a new Secretary General comes at the same time as proposals for the restructuring of the ACP Secretariat, which could result numerous new appointments to the Secretariat. Apparently, there will now be three Under-Secretary Generals.
2. WTO MINISTERIAL MEETING IN SEATTLE
The EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy participating in the Ministerial Meeting in Seattle has stressed that the EU’s position corresponds with the demands that have been made by protestors in Seattle. He said like the protestors, the EU want the Meeting to give priority to the needs of developing countries, and is concerned by non-trade issues such as the environment and social standards. However the Eurostep Secretariat have learnt that revelations at the Meeting, that a request for a waiver for preferential trade to the ACP should have been requested by the end of last month, if the ACP was to avoid a damaging hiatus the benefits of preferential trade, has caused a furore among many activists in Seattle. Many observers of ACP-EU Negotiations have long suspected the EU of deliberately delaying the decision to request a waiver, in order to pressurise the ACP to accept the EU’s proposal for free trade based REPAs. Eurostep plan to raise the issue with ACP and EU Ministers attending the ACP-EU Ministerial Negotiating Meeting on 7-8 December.
Mr Lamy has also presented an EU draft declaration from the Seattle Conference counter signed by Japan, Hungary, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey which proposes that a comprehensive round of trade negotiations should take place dealing with inter alia, anti dumping and agricultural subsidies. The Paper seems to hint at the Commission softening its position on agricultural subsidies by proposing to further reduce internal support granted to EU farmers. More information on the Commission’s position in Seattle can be obtained on the following website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/2000_round/news.htm
3. IN BRIEF
After meeting, the European Parliament
(EP) and the EU Council have failed to agree on how to fund the
reconstruction of Kosovo. The EP’s s Budget Committee will
discuss the issue further on 8 December.