Brussels, 22/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - Make speed not haste. Just a few weeks from the third EU/Africa summit (Libya, 29 and 30 November), EU27 development ministers feel strongly about addressing a reassuring message to Africa on the economic partnership agreements (EPA) that ACP regions (Africa/Caribbean/Pacific) hope soon to be concluding (see EUROPE 10241 and 10212).
“In Europe, we are convinced that trade is an authentic and sustainable lever for development. The state of progress of talks is not satisfactory. We want to convince rather than compel”, Belgium's minister for development cooperation, Charles Michel, explained to the press. He was host to Friday's informal Development Council, chaired for the first time by Catherine Ashton, the EU high representative for foreign affairs. He thus summed up the content of the exchange of views, when the Commission hoped to set a deadline so that regions negotiating EPAs might finally attain their goal.
Briefed by Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht on the fact that talks initially planned to conclude end 2007 - as the WTO had stated - had been bogged down, the ministers were unanimous in wanting the talks to reach a conclusion while respecting the development objective of these progressive trade liberalisation agreements compatible with multilateral trade rules. “I welcome the determination shown by Karel De Gucht, who is resolved to obtain a result by combining these two fronts”, said Andris Piebalgs, Development Commissioner.
Aware of the technical and political difficulties encountered over this dossier, the Council calls for EPAs to be regionally anchored so that they facilitate regional integration. It also calls on the EU and its member states to do their utmost to grant ACP countries the full financial package on “Aid to Trade”.
Furthermore, the Council considers it is necessary to fix timetables and time frames for conclusion, said Charles Michel, but added that this must be done in a “reasonable manner, using common sense, region by region, country by country”.
Finally, trust between the EU and ACP countries is vital. Many ministers highlighted how important this was although confidence can sometimes be upset by the high technicality of talks and no end of misunderstandings, as ACP countries feel they are being put under pressure to reach a hasty conclusion, Michel said.
In order to rekindle confidence, it is necessary to “clarify matters” and take negotiation to a higher level, he explained. An international meeting attended by several EU and ACP heads of state, and also by Catherine Ashton, could be a solution, ministers said.
Charles Michel, like most delegations in Council, felt a balance should be struck with “tenable and reasonable deadlines, as well as flexibility in the framework allowed by the WTO”. This could but meet with the satisfaction of Karel De Gucht who, immediately after the European ministerial meeting, met ACP trade ministers within the joint ministerial trade committee.
The Belgian minister said they wished to send a positive message to the EU/Africa summit in Libya so that it might be a quality summit and so that all questions might be tackled, especially the question of the private sector. He commented that they did not wish to relive what happened in Lisbon where the second EU/Africa summit (Ed.: taken hostage by the question of EPAs) was a missed opportunity. (A.N./transl.jl)