1.
73rd ACP COUNCIL OF MINISTERS MEETING
– PREPARATIONS FOR ACP-EU JOINT COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
The 73rd ACP Council of Ministers met this week in
Brussels. Issues on the agenda included reports on Ministerial
Committees on trade and development finance co-operation;
ministerial consultations on bananas and sugar; and preparation
for the joint ACP-EU Council of ministers taking place on 11 May
2001.
The Council also debated the report adopted by the ACP regional
organisations for regional integration, following their meeting
on 3-4 May in Brussels. The regional organisations had looked at
the programming of resources for the regional indicative
programmes (RIPs) and the definition of regions for regional
trade arrangements with the EU. The ACP ministers also held an
exchange of views on political dialogue with the EU in the
framework of the Cotonou Agreement.
The Ministers also agreed to take part in the ministerial
consultations that are taking place under the UN LDC III
Conference on 12 May and prepare the second meeting of the ACP
trade committee planned for 14 May.
Regarding the Joint Council of Ministers meeting on 11 May, it is
likely to be dominated by discussions on the future trade
arrangements between the EU and ACP countries and sub regions. The
main challenge will be to accelerate the preparations for the
negotiation of the free trade based Economic Partnership
Agreements that are supposed to begin September 2002. The
parties are behind schedule in their preparations for these
negotiations.
The Joint Council will also discuss preparations for the fourth
WTO Ministerial Conference on Qatar. Discussions in this area
will revolve around access to medicines and the EU banana trade
regime. Other issues on the agenda include:
§
Ratification of the Cotonou Agreement – the council will
discuss the state of progress of the ratification of the
Agreement
§
Climate Change – The ministers will adopt a joint
declaration on international negotiations o ways of implementing
the Kyoto Protocol.
§
Political dialogue – The ministers will have an exchange of
views on the consultation procedure regarding discussions on
corruption.
§
Cooperation for the financing of development – A report for
the ministerial committee on the EDF and the implementation of
the resolution on debt relief will be discussed.
§
Enlargement of the EU – The EU ministers will inform their
ACP counterparts on the progress made in negotiations on EU
enlargement.
2. EU NGDO LIASON COMMITTEE REACH AGREEMENT WITH
EUROPEAN COMMISSION ON FUNDING
The EU NGDO Liaison Committee in a press release put out
this week stated that it has suspended its court case against the
European Commission in response to the latter's payment of a
first instalment of funds blocked since last December.
According to the
press release, an agreement signed at the end of last week
signals the end of the 4-month dispute over the outcome of the
year long Commission audit process of CLONG accounts and provides
for the step by step phased release of blocked funds, the signing
of a 2001 budget contract and the full withdrawal of the court
case over the next few weeks. The two parties also
reached agreement on a compromise lump sum refund to the
Commission of € 325,000 in final settlement of the audit
findings. The auditors identified a number of areas of
inadequately documented expenditure and accounting mistakes and
pointed to misunderstandings arising from lack of clarity in the
contracts and
regulations governing the nearly € 10 million of EC funds
handled by CLONG during the 5 years of accounts they
examined. CLONG and the Commission have also agreed
to work together over the next period to clarify requirements and
improve financial procedures. The broad outlines of the
settlement were approved at the Liaison Committee's General
Assembly a month ago which voted to continue activities if
agreement could be reached with the Commission. The
proposal was subsequently discussed and approved at the meeting
of the Commission on 25 April.
In the press
conference, the Liaison Committee expresses its delight that the
agreement could finally be reached and it looks forward to
resuming normal working relations with the Commission over the
coming weeks. Work will however take some time to build up
again as, during this period of prolonged financial uncertainty,
the organisation has been obliged to take precautionary measures
and wind activities down to minimum levels. At the same
time the CLONG's member NGOs and related NGO networks are
embarking on a major consultation exercise with a view to
restructuring and strengthening the Liaison Committee, the first
results of which should be available in the autumn.
European press
reports this week state that, the Commission’s decision to
launch an investigation into CLONG’s financial competence
has provoked claims that the EU Commission for Development Poul
Nielson does not trust campaign and advocacy groups.
According to the press some observers cite the Commission’s
recent move to channel more EU funds to the UN as evidence of
Nielson’s distrust of NGOs. The Commissioner has denied this
stating, “Despite the polemics the only issue at stake this
whole time has been the question of sound financial management
and the respect of financial regulations.” CLONG have also
described the new development as a political compromise.
3. UN LDC III
CONFERENCE/ NGO FORUM; BRUSSELS 10-20 MAY 2001
During the press conference opening the NGO Forum (the civil
society event shadowing the UN LDC III Conference, EU
Commissioner for Development, Poul Nielson and Rubens Ricupero
the Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD) explained what was at stake at the LDC
Conference. According to Mr Nielson the main aim of the
Conference is to:
According
to the Commissioner the EU is convinced of the need to achieve
concrete results that will make the difference for people living
in Least Developed Countries.
Mr Ricupero insisted on the innovative nature of this conference,
which unlike previous conferences will involve the private sector
and civil society organisations. At the opening of the official
conference on 14 May there will be two roundtables involving
representatives of NGOs as well as the UN Secretary General, Kofi
Annan. This bears testimony to the innovative nature of the
Conference, said Mr Ricupero.
An action plan for sustainable development in Least Developed
countries will be adopted at the close of the Conference on 20
May.
4. EUROSTEP
MEETING ON THE EBA MARKET ACCESS INITIATIVE
Eurostep, in collaboration with MEP Caroline Lucas (UK
Green), organised a meeting on the EU - Everything But Arms (EBA)
market access initiative on May 3 at the European Parliament.
The objective of the meeting was to promote scrutiny of the
implementation of the EBA initiative, to ensure that least
developed countries benefit from the initiative at minimal cost
to other developing countries.
Participants included representatives of developing country
government representations in Brussels, (both least developed and
non-least developed) MEPs, civil society representatives, and
European agriculture producer organisation representatives.
The common observation made by all participants was on the
limitations of the EBA, as it stands, on its own, to actually
address the problems that Least Developed Countries have in
exporting their products to the EU. Nevertheless, the EBA
initiative was welcomed by almost all participants as an
important first step. But, it was criticised for
“mystifying” the real issues at stake, by placing
excessive emphasis on simple tariff reduction. A report on the
meeting will be available soon.