Following its rapporteur Christofer Fjellner (EPP, Sweden), the European Parliament approved the conclusion, in Brussels on Thursday 1 December, of the stepping stone economic and partnership agreement (EPA) between Ghana and the EU and its member states.
Parliament gave its consent by 375 votes in favour (220 against and 46 abstentions). This paves the way for ratification of this progressive and asymmetric trade liberalisation agreement between Ghana and the EU, without waiting for the conclusion of the regional EPA with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The stepping stone agreement, which was initialled in December 2007, had been put on hold for years, while awaiting the conclusion of a regional EPA. Without any progress, Ghana decided to revitalise the stepping stone EPA, which was then signed by both parties on 28 July 2016 (see EUROPE 11639) and ratified by Ghana last August.
This intermediary EPA remains a temporary solution that is compatible with the rules of the WTO, prior to a comprehensive EPA with the whole region. When the regional EPA enters into force it will replace this temporary EPA and also that with the Ivory Coast, which has been applied provisionally since 3 September 2016.
The Council of the EU will soon be able to adopt the formal decision on conclusion of the stepping stone agreement with Ghana. Back on 10 October, it was the draft decision that was adopted by the Council in order to seek the consent of the Parliament, and not the formal decision, as mistakenly reported by EUROPE (see EUROPE 11643). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)