The European Union is now in a position to be able to negotiate a new partnership agreement with the 79 ACP (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific) countries as a successor to the Cotonou agreement which expires on 20 February 2020.
The EU negotiating mandate was formally agreed, without debate, by the Council of the EU on Friday 22 June, after agreement was reached on the wording of the migration strand to satisfy Hungary (see EUROPE 12046).
Hungary wanted security aspects to be taken into account on irregular migration. The wording of the compromise states that the new agreement will strengthen the commitment of the Parties to cooperate in stemming the flows of irregular migration, in full respect of international asylum law, acknowledging negative impacts of irregular migration on countries of origin, transit and destination, including related humanitarian and security challenges, and the increased risk for migrants to experience human rights violations and to become victims of trafficking and abuses.
With its mandate now in place, the EU will seek to negotiate a renewed partnership that is legally binding, just as the Cotonou Agreement is, a partnership that is more effective in allowing the EU and the ACP countries, together, to meet the common challenges of the 21st century.
The new agreement will comprise a framework agreement with all the ACP countries, supplemented by three regional agreements, tailored for Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific respectively, as the Commission suggested in December 2017 (see EUROPE 11924).
The priority areas will be democracy and human rights, economic growth and investment, climate change, poverty eradication, peace and security and migration and mobility.
Since the ACP Group adopted its mandate at the end of May (see EUROPE 112033 and 12030), negotiations between the two parties will begin before the end of August, in line with the provisions of the Cotonou Agreement, the largest agreement between the EU and a group of developing countries, which includes 48 sub-Saharan African countries.
The current Cotonou Agreement replaced the fourth revised Lomé Convention in 2000. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)