Brussels, 19/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - Representatives of the EU's 27 member states and of the 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states initialled the text of the second quinquennial reviews of the Cotonou Agreement in Brussels on Friday 19 March. The Cotonou Agreement, a 20-year development partnership agreement concluded in 2000, forms the foundation for the privileged relationship between the EU and this group of countries which are, for the most part, among the world's least developed. The ACP-EU ministerial meeting, which was entirely devoted to completing the review, which was begun in 29 May 2009, bore fruit, after intense discussions, on the clause on the readmission of illegal immigrants, the political dialogue on discrimination based on sexual orientation, the possibility of express reservations about the ratification of the agreement and the future funding of the partnership after 2013, when the 10th European Development Fund comes to an end (see EUROPE 10100).
Difficulties have mostly been overcome by compromise, which mean that the revised text could be approved. Spanish Secretary of State for International Cooperation Soraya Rodríguez and Gabon's Deputy Economy, Trade, Industry and Tourism Minister Paul Bunduku-Latha, who jointly chaired the ACP-EU Council, welcomed the step forward, which, everyone agreed, will strengthen the ACP-EU partnership for development. “This agreement is the culmination of 10 months of negotiations between the Commission and the ACP countries. We will have a stronger partnership, better able to meet global challenges, such as tackling AIDS, combating climate change, and reaching the millennium goals for development. The text strengthens the links between the Cotonou Agreement and the economic partnership agreements (EPAs) which are being negotiated, links between security and development, between food safety, aquaculture and fisheries. Assistance possibilities will be increased for these two sectors that are vital for economic and social development,” Rodríguez said.
Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, said that the review “will mean we will be in a better position to take action on climate change, to respond to crises, to ensure the effectiveness of aid and security”. He congratulated the ACP countries, and especially the new ACP group Secretary General Ibn Chambas of Ghana for managing to “bring together the points of view of such a large number of countries”.
ACP Council President Bunduka-Latha said that the revised agreement initialled focused on the three main pillars of the partnership - political dialogue and institutional framework, economic and trade relations, and development. He said that the initialling demonstrated the “commitment of both parties to continue their efforts to consolidate the text before it is signed in June”. On the most difficult issue, that of migration, the two sides failed to overcome their differences of interpretation of the clause on the readmission of illegal immigrants. For the ACP countries, the clause, in Article 13 of the Cotonou Agreement, is not operational and, if it is to become so, will require bilateral readmission agreements. On this, the EU disagrees.
To overcome this problem, the EU and ACP states agreed in a joint declaration to strengthen and deepen their dialogue and cooperation in the area of migration, building on the following three pillars of a comprehensive and balanced approach to migration: - migration and development, including issues relating to diasporas, the brain drain and remittances; - legal migration including admission, mobility and the movement of skills and services; - and illegal migration, including smuggling and trafficking of human beings and border management, as well as return and readmission of illegal migrants. Dialogue should end in time for the report to be made on progress accomplished during the next joint ACP/EU Council in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso, 3 and 4 June), which should work towards formal adoption of the revised agreement.
Combating all forms of discrimination, including sexual leaning
The question of combating discrimination based on sexual leaning - a subject on which ACP states find discussion difficult but which is particularly dear to the European Parliament already fuming because of the Ugandan law on penalising homosexuality - was settled with a compromise. Article 8 on political dialogue, the list of discriminatory practices nominally cited, will be completed by the words “and any other form of discrimination” in the eyes of the universal declaration of human rights.
Answering a question by the press as to whether ACP states were unanimous or divided over the value of combating homophobia, the president of the ACP Council said: “Questions of discrimination in any form are governed by the declaration of human rights. This aspect does not appear in the declaration of human rights”.
On the matter of multiannual financing of the partnership, the EU and the ACP states discarded the idea of adopting a declaration. Although the EU was willing to ensure that financing will be guaranteed beyond 2013 (upon expiry of the 10th EDF, which has a budget of €22.7 billion for 2008-2013), it did not accept the demands of ACP states regarding increased aid to take a number of factors into account (cost of climate change mitigation and adjustment measures, inflation, external events, EPA adjustment costs, additional resources for food safety and flanking measures to offset the erosion of preferences pledged during review of the Cotonou agreement).
It would seem that ACP states have renounced their request that they be able to issue reserves to the ratification of the revised Cotonou agreement in order to be able, where necessary, to pull out of certain provisions. EU opposition to such an eventuality was adamant. (A.N./transl.rt/jl)