Eurostep Weekly 505 - Welcome to Eurostep

The following day, the Danish Parliament became the tenth country to approve the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, with 90 votes in favour and 25 against. Meanwhile, the Austrian Parliament’s upper chamber echoed the lower chamber’s previous vote in favour of ratification.

Also on Thursday, Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, approved the Treaty by 515 votes in favour to 58 against, with one abstention. Ratification by Germany now requires at least a two-thirds majority from the upper house, the Bundesrat, which will vote on the treaty on May 23.

However, there are still several obstacles to be overcome before the treaty can enter into force. Recent polls have shown that only 28% of Irish voters are 'certain' to vote ‘yes’ in the referendum scheduled for 12 June 2008, with 60% still undecided. The euro-sceptic Czech Parliament voted to refer the treaty to the nation's Constitutional Court for review, which will further delay the process of ratification.

Church leaders in Zimbabwe warned this week that the post-election violence in the country could turn into full-scale genocide, if the international community fails to take immediate action.

The joint statement by leaders of the Catholic, Anglican and Evangelical churches released on Tuesday 22 April read: “We warn that if nothing is done to help the people of Zimbabwe from their predicament, we shall soon be witnessing genocide similar to that experienced in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and other hot spots in Africa and elsewhere.”

The statement further claimed that "Organised violence perpetrated against individuals, families and communities who are accused of campaigning or voting for the 'wrong' political party ... has been unleashed throughout the country," and that "People are being abducted, tortured, humiliated by being asked to repeat slogans of the political party they are alleged not to support, ordered to attend mass meetings where they are told they voted for the 'wrong' candidate."

The church leaders appealed to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union and the United Nations to act to prevent further deterioration of the security situation in Zimbabwe. They also drew attention to “widespread famine” in Zimbabwe’s countryside and the lack of medicines available to treat victims of post-election violence.

On 25 April Human Rights Watch issued a statement claiming that: “President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party and state security forces have sharply intensified a campaign of organized terror and torture against opposition activists and ordinary Zimbabweans”.
Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, commented: “The recount results expected this weekend or early next week will do little to restore credibility to this election process.” “The violent crackdown on the opposition is just one more sign that President Mugabe will stop at nothing to keep hold of power. A re-run of the presidential race will have no validity,” she added.

This week Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the UN's World Food Programme, warned that soaring food prices represented “a silent tsunami threatening to plunge more than 100 million people on every continent into hunger”.

2007 saw some of the sharpest rises in food prices in history, with wheat rising 77% and rice 16%. This year, price rises have risen even more dramatically: rice prices are up by 141% and the price of one variety of wheat went up by 25% in a single day. These changes result primarily from growing global demand, particularly from consumers in India and China and new biofuels programmes. The rises may have been exacerbated by export quotas by large grain producers, panic buying by grain importers, and money from hedge funds looking for new markets.

Unrest related to the price rises has already erupted in Haiti, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Madagascar, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Sheeran commented on the implications of the price rises: "For the middle classes it means cutting out medical care. For those on $2 a day, it means cutting out meat and taking the children out of school. For those on $1 a day, it means cutting out meat and vegetables and eating only cereals. And for those on 50 cents a day, it means total disaster.”

Comparing the food crisis to the devastating 2004 tsunami, the WFP head called on the international community to match the aid given to help those affected by that disaster, which totalled around 12 billion US dollars.

The European Commission this week announced a further 117.25 million euros in emergency food aid to help the worst affected regions.

Sanctions imposed by the European Union on Burma/Myanmar are set to be extended for a further year due to the country’s lack of progress on human rights.

At a meeting on Monday 28 April, EU foreign ministers will review the measures they introduced against the country in October last year, following the regime’s violent suppression of the street protests by Buddhist monks.

The existing measures include a travel ban on government officials from the country, an arms embargo and a freeze on assets. The EU also has banned imports of timber, gemstones and precious metals from Burma/Myanmar.

Human Rights Watch has called for the EU to extend its actions against the regime, by broadening the range of targets for sanctions and banning any use of bank clearing-houses or other financial transactions within the EU's jurisdiction by members of the regime.

In a debate in the European Parliament on 23 April, MEPs called for the adoption of tougher sanctions against the regime. They also appealed to the Commission to urge China to apply pressure on Burma/Myanmar to cease its human rights abuses.

The twelfth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XII) was held in Accra from 20–25 April, against the backdrop of soaring food prices and global economic uncertainties.

Debate continued during the conference over what will be the effect on Africa of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) negotiated with the EU.

UK minister Gareth Thomas, who attended the UNCTAD conference, claimed that there was an urgent need to conclude the EPAs so that Africa countries could ‘‘trade their way towards growth and prosperity’’.

Thomas argued that ‘‘fairer trade means getting rid of export bans, reducing agricultural subsidies that distort trade and lowering tariffs’’. He claimed that, when this is achieved, it will ‘‘help farmers to better respond to the current high global food prices and increase production, but this is only part of the solution. We also need more investment to boost agricultural productivity. If farmers are able to get the higher prices, then they will invest."

However, a report launched at the UNCTAD conference called for the rejection of the EPAs, claiming that they would open up ACP countries to "European pirates" and ultimately increase poverty in Africa.

According to Oxfam, ‘‘these deals have strayed far from the development template they were supposed to follow. The cost will be enormous: annual losses from tariff cuts of 360 million dollars for Africa alone and a further 9 billion dollars for compliance for all the countries involved’’.

European Commission report shows EU imports from developing countries growing

The report notes that EU imports from developing countries increased by 16% between 2005 and 2006 and by 14% if China is excluded. In 2006, almost 70% of imports from developing countries (98% from ACP countries) entered the EU at a zero tariff rate. The biggest increases in imports from the least developed countries (LDCs) were in textiles, which grew by 12.3% from 2005-6 and agricultural products, which grew by just under 12% in the same period.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson commented: "This report demonstrates the EU commitment to putting trade at the service of development not only in theory, but in practice. ... The EU is active on many fronts to ensure that all Developing Countries have greater opportunity to share in the benefits of trade with the world's largest Single Market. Our goal remains a trade policy that promotes development and provides greater opportunities to developing countries in support of their own individual development priorities".