Ljubljana, 17/03/08: On the opening day of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly Civil society actors from Europe and Africa met with more than 100 official participants of the meeting. The lunchtime meeting, organised by the Concord Cotonou Working Group, spelt out concerns that civil society have towards the EU's management of its relations with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. The meeting focused on the need for transparency and democratic accountability in the management of EU cooperation, as well as the current state of negotiations on Econcomic Parnership Agreements. Civil society representatives said that it is clear that the final outcome of many of the adopted country strategies did not reflect the priority choices of the countries themselves. This was confirmed by a number of ACP members of the Joint Assembly. Dr. Bernadette Lahai MP of the Sierra Leone Parliament said that "there are more doctors Sierra Leone in the USA than in our own country. Financing health needs to be a priority for EU funding. Health has not been identified as a priority sector in the EU's country strategy for Sierra Leone.

The CSOs urged ACP Parliaments to study the country strategy papers that define the EU's cooperation with their countries. These have been established for the 7 year period from 2008 to 2013. The strategies, which the EU says have been drawn up to reflect their ownership by ACP countries, were finalised in Brussels by the Commission. In many instances the Commission did not accept the initial priorities identified by ACP governments. Political sovereignty of ACP countries is at risk of being jeopardised by development aid from Europe. Whilst aid is welcomed, ownership over the way it is spent still is not in the hands of local populations said Tamim Amijee of the Non-State Actors Support Programme in Tanzania. He emphasised that civil society organisations had an important and legitimate role in this process. The provisions in the Cotonou Agreement for the involvement of civil society at all stages of the cooperation, and the commitment of the EU to engage civil society in the process must be implemented in a consistent and comprehensive way. The civil society actors also said that it is important to ensure that there is effective democratic accountability of the EU's cooperation. The national Parliaments of ACP countries, together with the European Parliament should have a clear role in scrutinising the country strategies before they are adopted. The national parliamentarians from ACP countries were urged to initiate debates in their Parliaments on their country strategies. It wa pointed out that there would be a mid term review of the strategies in 2010 in which national Parliaments could have an opportunity seek changes. It was also suggested that national Parliaments should commission independent evaluations of the aid programmes in preparation for the mid term reviews of the CSPs. Such evaluations should not be left to the Commission.

See concord press release