Proactive file standard

PAF ProActive File - Regular News Update from Eurostep
No. 309
4 April 2003

1. ACP-EU JOINT PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY

The fifth session of the ACP (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific)-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly opened on Monday this week in Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo, its agenda slightly modified with inclusion in the debate of the war in Iraq.

Sudanese Vice – President of the Parliamentary Assembly, Angelo Beda, welcomed the entry into force of the Cotonou Agreement, on April 1, opening the way for the implementation of the 9^th European Development Fund (EDF) and called for transparency in trade negotiations and economic partnership agreements (EPA) that would be truly development oriented.

The European co-President of the Assembly, Glenys Kinnock, noted that as of April 1, the ACP-EU relations enter into new era. Kinnock suggested that each ACP national parliament draft an annual report on the implementation of the Cotonou Agreement and the use of EDF. A very difficult subject in negotiating economic partnership agreements will be agriculture. Without significant reform of the agricultural trade the efforts to eradicate poverty will be vain. The reform of common agricultural policy is a test for Europe’s honesty. Presently, there are clear inconsistencies between the common agriculture policy and Europe’s position on trade.

President of the Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, called the Assembly to be the benchmark of the dialogue between the cultures and civilisations, while the EPA must consolidate the edifice of solidarity between ACP and EU. The areas of continued attention must be enhancing of access to markets for the ACP countries, influencing of the WTO rules and improving ACP access to private capital.

2. REGULATION FOR EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENT FUND MANAGEMENT

On Friday, March 28, the Council of European Union adopted without debate a regulation to ensure correct financial management for the 9^th European Development Fund (EDF). This regulation, which includes the provisions on the Cotonou Agreement and decisions on financial aid destined to overseas countries and territories, sets the modalities for payment of the Member States contributions to the EDF and lays down provisions for the Court of Auditors to carry out its duties.

The EDF has a ceiling of € 13.8 billion funded by the Member States. Of this sum € 13.5 billion are allocated to the Africa Caribbean Pacific countries, €175 million for overseas territories and € 125 million for covering the costs that result from implementation of the EDF. € 10 billion of the total is non-refundable aid.

3. DEBATE ON THE EUROPEAN AND INTERNATIONAL REFORM OF ASYLUM

The European Commission and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will organize a parallel debate on asylum and the recent British proposal for a radical reform of asylum policy, in particular, the recommendation to better organize the hosting of refugees in their region of origin. On a world level, the talks on modernisation of the United Nations 1951 Convention on refugees have been underway for more than a year. The High Commissioner of the United Nations, Ruud Lubbers, hopes that these will advance sufficiently to present pilot projects in June. For its part, the European Commission will draft a proposal for the European Council in Thessalonica, 7^th of April, on the basis of consultations with the Member State experts.

European Commissioner Antonio Vitorino welcomed the policy principle of helping the people as close and quickly as possible from the troubled area, giving them right to the status of refugee thus avoid them passing through the hands of traffickers. The European Commission supports assessment of the EU asylum requests outside of the EU, provided that this is complementary to processing of the asylum applications of refugees who arrive spontaneously on the Union territory. Five member states already have such complementary system for assessment of asylum requests filed abroad, together with their own national system. Six others are enforcing it in an exceptional and informal manner.

Concerning the asylum statistics, UK was the world’s industrialised country that received most of the asylum seekers with 19 % of requests. However, on the world level, refugees find themselves above all in the developing countries. The 2002 UNHCR report which, presents the 2001 data, finds that of 19.8 million refugees in the world, most (44 %) find themselves in Asia, Europe (24 %), and Africa (21 %). Only 5 % of the total number of refugees filed an asylum request.

4. IN BRIEF

At the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, governments promised to achieve gender parity in primary and secondary education by 2005. Some countries have made excellent progress, but with the short time left, the goal will be missed if efforts are not accelerated. The Global Campaign on Education (GCE) was founded in 1999 by local and international non-governmental organizations and teachers’ unions from 180 countries This is the fourth year in which the GCE has successfully co-ordinated a Global Week of Action to voice popular demand for education. This year, the GCE Action week, taking place from April 6 to 13, will focus attention on the girls’ and women’s education, and what governments and donors can do to achieve the 2005 goal. Eurostep along with other European and international NGOs: Oxfam International, Action Aid Alliance, Save The Children and Education International, support the GCE, by sending a letter on its behalf to the officials of the EU and ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. For more information visit www.campaignforeducation.org/actionweek

Speaking in front of the ACP-EU joint parliamentary assembly, Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Poul Nielson declared that the Commission believes Cuba should be accepted as a member of the Cotonou agreement. Mr. Nielson indicated that he would ask the Council of Ministers to accept Cuba’s accession. The Commissioner has just taken part in the inauguration of the new Commission delegation to Havana. It will manage humanitarian aid of € 20 million, monitor the human rights situation, ensure regular and intensive political dialogue and play active role in trade and investment matters.

The idea of “social cohesion” was launched in cooperation between the European Union and the Latin American countries by External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten. He hoped that this theme would be at the centre of the EU/Latin America/Caribbean Summit to be held in Mexico in 2004. A seminar will be organized in June by the Commission and the Inter-American Development Bank in order to specify the priorities for the summit. The Commissioner explained the need to use common experience to examine how public revenue can adequately support public spending without harming the fiscal balance. Lack of social cohesion inhibits the development of the internal market in Latin American countries, and vulnerability to external shocks and major economies remains.

Earlier this week, the European Commission approved € 3 million to help countries and populations in Central Asia prepare for and respond to natural disasters. The funds allocated by European Community’s Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) will go to international humanitarian aid agencies present in the region. Mostly small-scale projects and disaster preparedness initiatives will be financed. ECHO’s support to the region is due to the frequency and gravity of the natural disasters affecting it.

EU – funded aid workers in Iraq are not expected to receive any protection from the American and British troops seeking to overthrow Sadam Hussein’s regime. European Commissions spokesman said this week that relief agencies the Red Cross and Red Crescent, which are partners to the European Commissions Humanitarian Office, insist on their impartiality from the military. The International Crisis Group in its new report has criticised the lack of pre-war coordination between international donors of aid. Poul Nielson, the EU Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, has ruled out coordinating ECHO’s work with national efforts by the US and Britain, in order to preserve ECHO’s neutrality.

ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly failed to adopt a resolution on the situation in Zimbabwe, which continues to be difficult with the infringements against human rights and the rule of law carried out buy President Mugabe’s regime. A Zambian parliamentarian called all the countries in the region to use their influence to improve the situation. The co-President of the Assembly, Glenys Kinnock, asked the Zimbabwean delegation to support a visit to the country by the two co-Presidents to allow them to report back to the Assembly about the real situation there.