PAF  ProActive File  - Regular News Update from Eurostep

No. 311

25 April 2003

1.      EUROPEAN COMMISSION ADOPTS PROPOSAL ON WATER FUND FOR ACP COUNTRIES

The European Commission this week adopted its President’s – Romano Prodi – proposal to establish an EU fund for access to water in ACP countries. The aim is to provide substance to the water initiative launched by the EU during last year’s World Summit on Social Development, and encourage other countries to respond to the UN Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people without access to water and sanitation by 2015. In a communiqué EU Development Commissioner Poul Nielson points out that more people die every year worldwide from unsafe water than from war. In Africa close to 40% of the population are without access to safe water.

The fund is supposed to be financed with unallocated ‘conditional’ resources from the 9^th European Development Fund (EDF). The EDF is the main source of funding for the framework agreement between the ACP and the EU – the Cotonou Agreement. Therefore the ACP will have to give its consent to the use of the funds, as will EU Member States. EU ministers will meet their ACP counterparts in a Joint Council on 16 May.

The fund is supposed to focus its activities on the countries with ‘good’ national water management policies or those engaged in developing one, while respecting the principles of good governance and prioritising spending in the social sectors. Countries that do not meet these criteria will be helped to develop a water policy.

 EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom, will present the Communication to G8 Environment meeting in Paris on 25-27 April. A copy of a paper by Romano Prodi and a letter from to EU Heads of States can be found at http://europa.eu.int/comm/commissioners/prodi/index_en.htm

2.      EU TRADE COMMISSIONER VISITS WEST AFRICA TO PREPARE FOR ACP-EU TRADE NEGOTIATIONS – ONLY 25% OF GHANAIAN INDUSTRIES COULD SURVIVE WITHOUT IMPORT TARIFFS SUPPORT

EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy visits West Africa this week with the aim of preparing for the launch of EU trade negotiations with West Africa. Mr Lamy will first attend a meeting of the trade and finance ministers of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, in Ghana to discuss the EU-West Africa negotiations and the ongoing WTO Doha Development Agenda. This will be followed by a meeting of African Heads of State in Senegal. Speaking shortly before his departure Mr Lamy said: “My visit to West Africa should give fresh impetus to the on-going negotiations between the EU and ACP regions… West Africa has already expressed its willingness to open negotiations with the EU and I hope to discuss with my colleagues the outline and timetable of negotiations for an EU-West Africa Economic Partnership Agreement.”

However Ghana’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku stated at the ECOWAS meeting that recent studies on the competitiveness of industry and agriculture in Ghana showed that only 25 per cent of industries could survive without import tariffs support. The EU proposed new trade arrangements following the negotiations would abolish import tariffs on EU exports to Ghana. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=35595

3.      CONVENTION PRESIDIUM PRESENTS PROPOSALS ON EU EXTERNAL ACTION

On the 24^th of April, the steering committee (Presidium) of the Convention on the future of Europe presented its proposal for the EU Institutions and the Articles on the External Action of the EU to the members of the Convention. Development co-operation is included in the second part of the constitution in the External Action chapter. The development part is composed of three articles (art 25, 26 and 27) where the Presidium of the Convention tried to include the content already present in the previous Treaties:  Treaty on the European Community (Rome), Treaty on the European Union (Maastricht), and also the Amsterdam and Nice Treaties. Some aspects in these articles are to be welcomed whereas others still need further work. 

The article on the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) states that “The Minister for Foreign Affairs may propose the use of both national resources and Union instruments, together with the Commission where appropriate”. A comment in the draft given by the Presidium through an explanation leaves open the use of development aid for the ESDP. Eurostep believe this is unacceptable as development, to be efficient must stay completely independent from foreign policy. Europe will not be able to play a responsible role in the world if its development co-operation policy is just a tool of its foreign policy.

The role of the EU Council is considerably increased in the external action of the EU. The article 2 of the External Action part proposed that “European Council decisions on the strategic interests and objectives of the Union may relate to foreign policy and to other areas of the external action of the Union”, which includes development co-operation. The role of the European Parliament and the Commission is therefore considerably decreased in this proposal that gives the power to the Council.

Other points, such as policy coherence, own development objectives, an article on the principle of partnership (described in the Cotonou agreement), a balanced definition for sustainable development including the environment part, are not present in the Presidium’s proposal.

Eurostep will present an official response to this proposal before the deadline for amendments (5th of May) in order to allow other organizations to approach Convention members with concrete textual amendments to ensure that in the future constitution EU development policy will not be subordinated to Common Foreign and Security Policy.

4.        FORTHCOMING EVENTS

     5. IN BRIEF

The Asia-Europe People’s Forum (AEPF) met in Brussels on Monday, April 14. After a brief update on the AEPF-Copenhagen event, the main points on the agenda were WTO/GATS and implications for trade & investment in the ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) process. The meeting also addressed the Asia - Europe Business Forum, water privatisation, US military policy towards Iraq, the Asia-Latin America regulation review and the Asia campaign towards Cancun. Participants then discussed future preparation for the ASEM in Hanoi, which will focus on integration of the social dimension, civil society participation in the ASEM process and the World Social Forum process.

On the occasion of the referendum in Hungary formally allowing the country to join the EU, Eurostep participated in an event organized by Hungarian NGO - European House with several members of the newly created development NGO Platform in Budapest in order to discuss perceptions of development in Hungary. As active members of the platform, Hungarian Interchurch Aid, Partners Hungary, Volunteer Center Foundation and Hungarian Baptist Aid expressed their wish get involved in the debate on EU development policy through the new platform.

© Eurostep. Please address comments to [email protected]