PAF ProActive File - Regular News Update from Eurostep

No. 343

23 January 2004

1. EU - GUINEA BISSAU POLITICAL DIALOGUE MEETING

The ACP Group and the European Union agreed on the conclusions of the first political dialogue meeting on the situation in Guinea-Bissau. The consultations, which were organised in the framework of political dialogue as provided for in the Cotonou Agreement (Article 96), were requested by the EU following the coup d’Etat in Guinea-Bissau on 14^th September 2003.

The Guinea-Bissau delegation led by the Prime Minister, Mr. Antonio Artur Sanha, informed representatives of the EU Council and the European Commission of the context in which the coup d’Etat in September occurred, which it found reprehensible as any seizure of power, but profitable for having stopped a situation of chaos and opened the way to a sustainable democratic solution. The Guinea-Bissau delegation also provided detailed responses to a list of questions from the European side on :

- Democracy and good governance, notably on the preparation of the parliamentary elections planned on 28^th march 2004 and the guaranties of their fairness ;

- The institutional framework, particularly on the independence of justice and the control over the army by the civilian power, the transparency of the conduct of public affairs and the use of international aid; and

- The implementation of the commitments undertaken by the Government of transition in the framework of the political dialogue, which has been launched.

At the end of the meeting, the European Union noted with satisfaction, the Guinea-Bissau Government’s commitments with respect to these three chapters. A three-month period was established for the duration of the consultations, during which period, the European Union will offer its support to the implementation of the commitments and will pursue its cooperation activities in the framework of the European Development Fund.

The ACP-EU consultations on Guinea-Bissau were preceded by a special ACP preparatory meeting at which ACP delegates reiterated their condemnation of the coup d’Etat of 14^th September 2003 while noting the willingness of Guinea-Bissau authorities to quickly restore constitutional rule.

2. STEPPING UP THE FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY-RELATED DISEASES

With the adoption of the draft report by MEP Mrs. Karin Scheele (Austria) and MP Mr. Betkou Aime François (Madagascar) “Poverty Diseases and Reproductive Health in ACP Countries in the context of the ninth EDF”, the Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) calls for both the EU and ACP states to commit to combating poverty-related diseases, especially focussing on AIDS, TB and Malaria. “No more then one out of 1000 new drugs introduced is for poverty-related diseases”, Mr. Christopher Hentschell, Medicines for Malaria Venture, stated, and continued with explaining that even most of these drugs are coincidental spin-offs of research in other areas. The need for stronger international commitment was also highlighted in Ms. Doris Mesia Vela - Médicins Sans Frontiéres - intervention, where she presented the JPA Committee with devastating numbers on poverty-related diseases; 1.9 billion people are infected with TB and every year TB causes the death of 1-3 million - 95% of these live in developing countries.

Mrs. Scheele in her presentation argued that the main concern of the draft report is to, within the framework of ACP-EU, to raise awareness around the issue, that it is absolutely necessary to increase health situation in developing countries in order to generate sustainable development. She also urged the EU to live up to the UN Cairo Action Plan. Currently the EU’s actual donations are only a fourth of what was promised. She furthermore insisted that the ACP delegations should enhance their work on poverty-related diseases in their own countries. “It is simply not just a question of raising money for new research and development, but also a question of raising awareness in the ACP countries”. 

3. EU COMMISSION HOPES TO CONCLUDE TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH MERCUSOR THIS YEAR

Returning from his visit to Brasilia, European External Relations Commissioner Chris Pattern said he hoped that, at the time of the EU-Latin America Summit on the 28 and 29 May in Guadalajara, negotiations of a free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay) will be “heading towards a satisfactory conclusion”.  According to Commissioner Pattern, both parties are very close to an agreement on political and cooperation issues, although some tricky trade issues are to be resolved, which, he admits, is not surprising.

4. ACP COUNTRIES RAISE CONCERNS OVER EU ENLARGEMENT

During the Joint Parliamentary Assembly Standing Committee on Political Affairs meeting this week in the ACP House, Brussels, several ACP members voiced their concerns over the upcoming inclusion of ten new members into the European Union. Among the most important issues for the ACP is how the inclusion of the new and poorer countries into the Union will affect the aid given to the ACP. Other issues discussed were trade arrangements and institutional matters

The European Commission representative assured the ACP members that the new EU Member States have obligations to adopt the aqius, (meaning all the EU laws), and as such also the Cotonou Agreement. However, the new Member States will not contribute to the current 9^th EDF. To date there have been no negotiations on how they will contribute to the 10^th EDF, as this is still depending on the Commissions negotiations on budgetisation.

The Commission also informed the Committee that they have recently launched a study to show the possible effects of enlargement for the ACP and other developing countries. Already the Commission has started to react on the findings in this study. According to a Commission representative, a key aspect is to get the new EU Members to focus on poverty reduction and development policies in general. Therefore the Commission has launched different actions in all the new member states to raise awareness of this issue. The report can be found at:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/body/publications/docs/brochure_consequences_enlargement_en.pdf#zoom=100

5. FORTHCOMING EVENTS

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