|
PREPARATIONS FOR EU-LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN SUMMIT - CIVIL SOCIETY MEETING TO DEVELOP PROPOSALS FOR THE SUMMIT
A number of meetings amongst both governmental and non-governmental actors will be organised within the coming weeks in preparation for the 2nd EU-Latin America/Caribbean Summit on 17-18 May in Madrid.
A Civil Society Forum will take place on 3-5 April in Alcobendas in Spain between European and Latin America civil society organisations. This Forum is supposed to develop a number of proposals for the Summit regarding the campaign against poverty, social justice, trade and agriculture. Representatives from the EU Economic and Social Committee will also meet with their partners from Latin America and the Caribbean to discuss the social dimension to relations between the EU and Latin American and the Caribbean.
The EU-Latin America/Caribbean Summit is supposed to provide substance to the strategic partnership project outlined at the first EU-Latin America/Caribbean Summit in Rio in June 1999 in three areas: The consolidation of the rule of law, democracy and civil rights; Economic and trade perspectives; Technical and cultural co-operations. The themes of the summit are supposed to be: democracy and security, strengthening of multilateralism and regional integration; social equity and sustainable development; and cultural diversity and modernisation.
There will be several fringe meetings to the Summit including an EU-MERCOSUR (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) summit and a meeting between EU Foreign Affairs Ministers and their counterparts from the San José Group (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama).
Trade issues are expected to dominate discussions during the Summit. Chile and the EU Have pledged to complete negotiations of their free trade association agreement before the Summit. But the crisis in Argentina has somewhat stalled the EU-Mercosur negotiations over a free trade zone. For the Caribbean countries, discussions are likely to centre on the preparations for the negotiations between the EU and the ACP (African Caribbean and Pacific) Group. The EU is also pushing for regional free trade agreements with sub regions of the ACP including the Caribbean. (See article 2 below). Countries from the Andes and Central America are expected to raise questions about the current trade preferences granted to the ACP by the EU.
EUROPEAN COMMISSION POSTPONES ADOPTION OF POSITION FOR TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE ACP
The European Commission was expected to adopt a mandate for the forthcoming trade negotiations between the EU and the ACP this week. However this decision has now been postponed till next week. According to certain sources the decision was postponed because of the European Commission’s heavy agenda this week. However, other sources claim there are differences within the Commission on whether to move ahead with an extension of current non-reciprocal trade preferences enjoyed by the ACP or whether to begin discussions on full opening of ACP markets to EU goods. Suggestions have been made on halting negotiations on free trade areas between the EU and its partner countries due to developments in discussions in the WTO. According to an Inter Press Service report the Commission is likely to propose that future ACP-EU trade arrangements be based on free trade in goods and services.
However civil society groups and parliamentarians from the EU and ACP that make up the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly are calling for the trade arrangements to be based on wider development objectives with the emphasis on poverty reduction. These were some of the key points that were presented in the Cape Town Declaration that was adopted by the Joint Parliamentary Assembly at its last session in Cape Town (See PAF 265). The Declaration is available at http://www.europarl.eu.int/intcoop/acp/south_africa_2002/pdf/res_19_en.pdf
Eurostep together with the other EU NGO networks will, in the coming weeks and months, be organising a number of meetings with EU and ACP governmental actors on the negotiating mandate and the preparations for the negotiations.
Once the Commission approves its mandate, the document would then be submitted for discussion to EU Member States. However any proposed changes to the Commission’s mandate, may have to be done unanimously by EU Member States. The EU hopes to adopt the mandate by July.
The ACP may also adopt its mandate in July at the ACP Heads of State Summit in Fiji. The negotiations are supposed to be launched on 27 September 2002. They are set to be concluded by the end of 2007.
SENEGALESE FISHING GROUPS CALL FOR TOUGH POSITION FOR DISCUSSIONS
WITH EU ON FISHING AGREEMENTS
According to an Inter Press Service report, representatives of fishermen in Senegal are calling on their government to take a tough position in discussions with the EU on a new fisheries agreement to replace the four-year agreement between the two parties that expired in May 2001. Under that agreement, the EU paid Senegal € 48 million over a four-year period in return for access to Senegalese waters.
But civil society groups like the National Collective of Artisanal Fishermen (CNPS) argue that the original accords were far too generous to the EU. Past EU agreements have mainly confined fishing by EU trawlers to deep-lying fish like hake and to species like tuna and shrimp. But the CNPS have warned persistently of increasing European interest in pelagic fish, like sardines and jack. A longstanding source of resentment for artisanal fishermen is the lack of access to fish with a higher market value.
Negotiations between the EU and Senegal over the past two years have been extremely difficult. After the 1997 accord ended in April 2001, two three-month extensions to the existing agreements were granted. However, at the last round of discussions in December, the Senegalese government declined to offer an extension, and EU vessels, mainly from Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal, were asked to withdraw from Senegalese waters from January 1, 2002.
The main points of contention are the demarcation of fishing zones accessible to EU fleets and the time needed by Senegal to replenish stocks. The EU has expressed strong disappointment at the non-renewal of the extension. According to EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries, Franz Fischler, “a non respect of the agreed extension is not in accordance with the excellent, long-standing relations existing between the EU and Senegal”. But CNPS representative, Abdoulaye Gueye Diop, is sceptical of the EU’s intentions. He states, “We have had European MPs here who came to look and listen, who should know what is going on,” he says. ''But perhaps the Europeans are only following their own interests and perhaps we should do the same. Cooperation is always good, but not at any price.”
IN BRIEF
MEP Rosa Diez Gonzalez (Spain, Socialist) has drafted a report on the promotion of human rights and democracy in non-EU countries. The report calls for an EU agency to be set up, to deal with human rights and democracy issues. The European Parliament will discuss the report on 24-25 April.
The EU, last week, announced of a large aid plan for the Ivory Coast but an independent Belgian organisation, Prevention Genocides, which has been closely involved with the situation in the Ivory Coast group, wants the aid package linked to improvement in human rights in Ivory Coast.
The Permanent Forum of Civil Society following the Convention on the Future of Europe has called for an Internet Conference jointly managed by the Convention Presidium and civil society networks in order to establish a mechanism for permanent dialogue. The Convention of Europe is discussing the reforms that need to be taken to allow the EU to function efficiently in future, especially in the light the imminent enlargement of the EU.
© Eurostep. Please address comments to [email protected]