Brussels, 13/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - The future of the partnership between the EU and 78 countries from the ACP (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific) Group after 2020 was briefly addressed by the EU foreign affairs ministers in Luxembourg on Monday 12 October (see EUROPE 11407).
Their half-hour discussion enabled High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini to present the ministers with the European Commission's recent consultation document - which aims to identify the EU-ACP partnership's strong points and its future direction in order to be able to adapt it to the new challenges of an ever more multipolar world when the Cotonou Agreement expires (see EUROPE 11405).
Mogherini underlined the importance of reflecting on all dimensions of this partnership - the political dimension, the development dimension and the trade dimension. European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn spoke on behalf of European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica and stressed the importance of moving on to an honest assessment of the EU-ACP partnership, which takes account of the development of the different regional groups, progress in African integration, and new challenges such as migration.
Due to a lack of time, only a handful of delegations spoke on the issue. The French delegation called for the benefits of the EU-ACP partnership to be exploited in order to build the future. The Belgian delegation spoke of its desire for a better ownership of the partnership by the ACP states themselves, and said that sharing good practices was essential. Denmark and the Netherlands believed the EU should take account of the fact that the ACP countries are forging alliances with numerous partners on the international scene.
A more substantial discussion will take place at the Foreign Affairs Council (in its development format) in Brussels on 26 October.
Under the terms of the Cotonou Agreement, which was concluded for 20 years in 2000, the negotiations on the post-Cotonou partnership must be launched by 1 September 2018 at the latest. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)