Interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, negotiations on the post-Cotonou Modernised Partnership Agreement between the EU and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) have progressed well and are nearing completion, so much so that both sides hope to conclude them before the summer break.
These negotiations resumed at ministerial level on Friday 12 June under the aegis of the Togolese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and African Integration of Togo, Robert Dussey, Chief Negotiator of the OACPS, and the European Commissioner for International Partnerships, Chief Negotiator for the EU, Jutta Urpilainen (see EUROPE 12499/25).
“The negotiating teams are progressing well and nearly 95% of the text has been endorsed. Only few issues remain to be finalised in some parts of the foundation (the framework agreement or ‘umbrella’ agreement with all ACP countries: editor’s note), common to all countries with an impact on the corresponding parts of the regional protocols. Our joint objective is to conclude the negotiations before summer”, a senior official told EUROPE on Monday 15 June.
With regard to the three regional protocols, the Pacific protocol has been completed, while the African and Caribbean protocol is in the process of being finalised.
In the coming weeks, the negotiating teams will continue their work on the remaining issues, but nothing from the negotiations will be revealed until everything is completed.
Cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC), the inclusion of sexual orientation in the discrimination to be proscribed, migration could be the issues still to be finalised, according to another source, but nobody wanted to confirm, from either the European or the ACP side.
Nor was it possible to ascertain whether agreement had been reached on strengthening the Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA), which both the ACP countries and the European Parliament had wanted, initially opposed to the disappearance of this institution to the advantage of regional assemblies.
It should be recalled that Parliament has made the maintenance and strengthening of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly a non-negotiable issue and a condition for the ratification of the future agreement that will take over from the Cotonou Agreement (see EUROPE 12380/17).
“The ongoing negotiations with the OACPS countries remain a priority”, Jutta Urpilainen commented last Friday. According to Robert Dussey, “OACPS members remain committed and are on the verge of concluding a partnership agreement that will also take into account the unprecedented challenges we now face at the national, regional and global levels as a result of Covid-19”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)