PAF ProActive File - Regular News Update from Eurostep

No. 341

9 January 2004

1. FIRST MEETING OF ACP PARLIAMENTARIANS AND TEN NEW EU MEMBER STATES

The ACP – EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly’s standing committees will meet in Brussels on the 22 January The Political Affairs Committee will discuss the report by Messrs Klutse (Togo) and Morillon (UDF, France) on conflict prevention, the peace process and post-conflict management and the exchange of views on political dialogue under the Article 8 of the Cotonou Agreement. The Committee meeting will provide for the first discussion between ACP ministers with EU acceding countries’ ministers.

2. 7^th ACP-EU JOINT PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY TO BE HELD IN ADDIS ABABA ON 16-19 FEBRUARY

The 7^th plenary session of the ACP-EU Parliamentary Assembly will be held in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia on the 16-19 February 2004. It will begin in the morning of Monday the 16 February with a ceremony attended by the President of the Commission of the African Union, Alpha Oumar Konare, and the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, along with the two co-presidents, MEP Glenys Kinnock and MP Ramdien Sardjoe. The preliminary draft agenda includes discussion on Monday of the report by the French Socialist MEP Harlem Desir and MP Sharon Hay-Webster of Jamaica on Economic Partnership Agreements. EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy may also address the meeting. On Tuesday, there will be a briefing by EU Commissioner on Development and Humanitarian Aid, Poul Nielson, Mr. Kitt on behalf of the Council of the EU, and Mr. Moussa on behalf of the ACP Council. Tuesday will also see discussion of the report by Messrs Klutse (Togo) and Morillon (UDF, France) on conflict prevention, the peace process and post-conflict management. On Wednesday the meeting will discuss a report by Mr. Betkou (Madagascar) and Ms Scheele (Austrian Socialist) on poverty related disease and reproductive health in the ACP states.

3. COMMISSION REWARDS SRI LANKA FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF CORE LABOUR RIGHTS

The European Commission has decided to grant additional benefits to Sri Lanka under the EU's Generalised System of Tariff Preferences (GSP). EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said: “These decisions demonstrate the EU's twin-track approach towards using tariff preferences to promote the respect of core labour standards: rewarding those beneficiary countries under the GSP that make particular efforts to implement core labour standards on the ground, and withdrawing GSP benefits in case of serious and persistent violations of labour rights. In the case of Sri Lanka, our investigations have shown that the country is making good progress towards full compliance with the core labour standards as defined by the ILO, even if this situation will have to be carefully monitored.” To foster development, the EU's Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) grants products imported from developing countries a tariff reduction. To promote the respect of international labour standards, the EU grants additional preferences under the GSP's special incentive arrangements for the protection of labour rights, thus doubling the general GSP benefit. These standards are the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) so-called “core labour standards concerning forced labour, freedom of association, discrimination in employment and child labour”. Sri Lanka submitted a request for these incentive arrangements in 2002. The Commission has investigated Sri Lanka's request and decided to grant Sri Lanka the benefit of the arrangements until the end of the current GSP regime (end of 2005).

4. IRISH PRESIDENCY WORKING FOR A GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT WITHIN EU

Further to last month’s report on the Irish Presidency, the PAF can now bring you extracts from the official Presidency programme. Concerning the EU and the wider world “Global Engagement – the European Union and the Wider World” the Irish Presidency of the EU says it will fully utilise “in a coherent way” all the instruments and capabilities at its disposal, both at the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) and also trade, humanitarian aid and development co-operation policies. The Irish Presidency notes various key areas:

Africa “There are 291 million people living below the poverty line in sub-Saharan Africa. An estimated 28 million are infected with HIV/AIDS. Over a dozen conflict situations exacerbate this humanitarian crisis”, explains the Presidency, noting the importance of preventing and managing conflicts and working with the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States, Sudan and the Great Lakes Region.

Latin America and the Caribbean The Irish Presidency will “advance the Strategic Partnership between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean region (LAC)” focussing on ‘the promotion of peace, democracy, stability and socio-economic progress. The EU-LAC Summit in Guadalajara, Mexico, in May will be the first external Summit in which the 10 new EU Member States will participate. In all, 58 countries from both regions are expected to attend.

Conflict Prevention. A Conference on Conflict Prevention will be held in Dublin on the 3^rd of April 2004 to “explore the roles of NGOs and civil society and look at the interface between CFSP actions and development co-operation activities in preventing conflict”. This will feed into a report on the EU’s progress for implementing the EU Programme for the Prevention of Violent Conflicts to the European Council in June 2004. See: http://www.eu2004.ie/templates/homepage.asp?sNavlocator=1

5. MINI-MINISTERIAL MEETING TO REACTIVATE DOHA AGENDA

The Doha Development Agenda talks will be reactivated on the 23^rd of January within the framework of a mini-ministerial meeting – the first since the failure in Cancun – organized by the Swiss authorities on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. In Geneva, officials of the WTO prepare to hold a new series of consultations, this time with a view to nominate the new presidents of the thematic negotiation groups. These groups will undertake the organisation of the rest of the work after the institutions General Council session scheduled for mid-February. The spokesperson for the Swiss Ministry of Economy said the intention is to give ministers an opportunity to take stock and to contemplate how to get the Doha process to move forward. The Meeting will be restricted to around thirty of the 148 members of the WTO.

6. EU WELCOMES RESULTS OF ISLAMABAD SUMMIT

The high-profile summit of the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), ended with high-profile decisions, including the signing of the much-awaited South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA). This agreement will initiate the long-awaited process of regional economic integration once it goes into operation in January 2006. In a press release publishes this week by President Prodi, the Commission particularly welcomed this, calling it a “significant result”.

Particularly the business leaders of India and Pakistan, the strongest countries of the bloc, received the signing of SAFTA warmly. President Prodi also expressed his appreciation of the SAFTA Agreement, stating that this “will reap enormous benefits for all SAARC countries” and “constitute a formidable signal for strengthened regional co-operation”, he insisted, specifying that “ the European Commission stands ready to actively support this move though relevant co-operation if so requested”.
The Agreement binds the non-least developed countries of the region to reduce their tariffs to 0 -5 percent in a period of seven years, starting January 2006. This category is also classified as middle-income countries by the WTO, and includes India and Pakistan. The least developed countries will, however, meet the target in a period of 10 years, staring January 2006. The agreement allows each member state to maintain a sensitive list of products on which tariffs will not be reduced. This list will be finalised until Jan. 1, 2006. The next SAARC summit it set for Dhaka in January next year.