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EC increases pressure on ACP to sign up to the EPAs, while World Bank voices concern |
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Brussels, 19 September 2007. As the deadline for finalizing the trade agreements between the EU and countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries approaches, the European Commission is stepping up its offensive to get ACP governments to agree what is on offer. As part of this offensive to conclude the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) by the end of the year Development Commissioner Louis Michel summoned ACP Ambassadors to a meeting in ACP House on 18 September. At the meeting he lectured the ACP government representatives on why the EU’s trade offer is in the best interests of their countries
He repeated the arguments given time and again that the EU is interested in promoting the development of ACP states, wants to provide access for ACP goods to EU markets without expecting any immediate reciprocity from the ACP to EU goods, and hangs out the threat of the end of the WTO waiver which allow current trade preferences until 31 December.
Most ACP states are not convinced and fear that the terms of the proposed agreements will not produce the benefits the Commission claims will followThey argue that their concerns are not taken seriously by the Commission, let alone addressedThey want more time for the negotiations to ensure that the final agreement works for their countriesBut Michel was unwilling to entertain any delays. More time to discuss what?
It seems, however, that ACP governments are not alone in their thinkingThe World Bank is also hesitant. At a meeting in Brussels the day before Michel met ACP Ambassadors one senior Bank official warned that the in its current form there was a danger that the EPAs would make things worse for ACP states, not better. He said that Africa clearly needs more effective increases in its trade, this must be based primarily on strengthening regional markets. So while EPAs may have this as their stated objective “the devil is in the detail” and it is in this that the Bank has concerns. This needed more careful study and reflection, and it doubtful that this could be achieved together with the necessary negotiations before the end of the year. It was suggested that some way needed to be found to allow such negotiations to carry over into next year.
The World Banks concerns would seem to be derived from the impact that the EPAs could have on the way in which ACP economies are encouraged to develop. For the Bank priority remains clearly focused on promoting economic growth. However, according to the senior official its approach to this is this through giving priority to Africa’s own private sector. Investment is needed to help Africa’s own small scale producers to grow, and bring informal sector producers into the formal sector. For this public policy needs to play a key role.
While the World Bank paints a positive picture about current economic growth rates for many African countries, there are concerns that this will not be maintained. Indeed, Bank’s senior representative highlighted the historical cycle in Africa of high growth decades being followed by ones of low growth, strongly suggesting that it was inevitable that this pattern would continue.
Given the critique of the World Bank, ACP governments should be wary of the EPAs in their current form. |
