Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 6 • Number 12 • 3rd April 2002
Upcoming ACP-EU Negotiations Outlined At 4th Joint Parliamentary Assembly
On 18-22 March, the 4th African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) met in Cape Town, South Africa to prepare for forthcoming negotiations on the ACP-EU Cotonou arrangement in September 2002. Inter alia, the JPA adopted the Cape Town Trade Declaration and various other resolutions — including one on the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), and another on negotiations between the EU and the ACP states on trade, rules of origin and sanitary and phytosanitary measures.
The ACP-EU JPA meets twice a year and is one of three bodies that formally steers cooperation between the ACP and EU under the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement. The Agreement was signed in June 2000 in Cotonou, Benin — and is often referred to as the Cotonou Agreement (see BRIDGES Weekly, 27 June 2000,).
Preparing for negotiations
With negotiations on the new arrangements under the Cotonou set to begin this September, a great deal of preparatory work is currently underway, particularly with regard to ratification. The current state of ratification — with only 4 of 15 EU Members and 41 of 77 ACP Members having ratified the Agreement — prompted new co-president of the JPA, MEP Glenys Kinnock (UK), to note in her introductory speech to the Assembly that she was "saddened and deeply embarrassed" by this fact.
JPA adopts Cape Town Trade Declaration
In gearing up for the negotiations, the Joint Parliamentary Assembly unanimously adopted the Cape Town Trade Declaration (ACP-EU 3382/02/fin; see below for web addresses). The Declaration seeks to establish development benchmarks against which to assess future ACP-EU negotiations. With another key innovation of Cotonou being the inclusion of non-state actors in the process, it also recognises the need to engage all those bodies in the ACP and EU concerned with promoting sustainable development. The Declaration goes on to consider the main objectives of the negotiations, the principles to inform the negotiations, the major issues to be addressed, and the approach to be adopted. Finally, it reaffirms its support for the open and transparent conduct of negotiations.
Non-state actor involvement
The JPA agenda also involved discussions on the participation of non- state actors. The presence at the JPA of civil society actors outside the regular non-state representatives (unions, businesses, farmer interests, as well as the EU’s Economic and Social Committee) was looked upon as indicative of the growing participation of civil society in the Cotonou process. However, despite this increased participation, one ACP-EU Civil Society Forum member attending the Assembly pointed out that many official actors are not yet committed to supporting civil society participation in this process.
Resolutions
Of the 18 resolutions passed by the Assembly, one was entitled, "On Sustainable Development and Rio + 10" (ACP-EU 3394/02/fin). This item looked at issues of governance for sustainable development, financing for development and preparations for the UN WSSD scheduled for August- September 2002. It also discussed the communication from the EC entitled "Towards a global partnership for sustainable development" — which sets out the EU’s contribution to global sustainable development.
Another resolution entitled, "On negotiations between the EU and the ACP States on trade, rules of origin and sanitary and phytosanitary measures" called for, inter alia, efforts at poverty alleviation that tackle structural causes to ACP countries’ impoverishment — further calling for "[...] an end to export subsidies that disrupt local markets, cancellation of the debt that absorbs over 40 percent of the Least-developed countries’ (LDCs) GNP, [and] reform of the current WTO rules and their revision by fair rules that take account of the southern countries’ concerns".
Background
The Cotonou Agreement foresees the negotiation of new reciprocal and WTO-compatible trading arrangements between the EU and the ACP. Such agreements would build on regional integration processes in the ACP. The precise configuration of ACP countries that will enter into agreements with the EU is not yet defined — nor is the role of LDCs who are part of these regional groupings but are allowed under WTO rules to retain preferential arrangements. The Agreement lasts for twenty years, with opportunities for revision every five years. Its central objective is to reduce and eventually eradicate poverty while contributing to sustainable development and to the gradual integration of ACP countries into the world economy.
The current stage of the Cotonou Agreement provides until 2008 to negotiate the new reciprocal EPA’s. As such, much of the work currently underway is preparing for these negotiations, which are to commence on 27 September of this year.
All documents from the 4th JPA can be found online at http://www.europarl.eu.int/intcoop/acp/south_africa_2002/default_en.htm. For further information on the Cotonou Agreement, visit the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) at http://www.ecdpm.org/en/cotonou/index.htm.
"4th ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, 18-22 March 2002, Cape Town," EUROSTEP PAF #265, 29 March 2002; "Cotonou Infokit," ECDPM, January 2001.