Alarmed by the particularly severe impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the most vulnerable economies, which are heavily dependent on commodity exports, foreign aid and tourism, the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) called, on Friday 12 March, for the amount of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to be urgently scaled up as part of a more systemic multilateral response.
In a wide-ranging resolution, MEPs and ACP (Africa/Caribbean/Pacific) MEPs welcomed the EU’s global response plan (‘Team Europe’) as a first step, while warning against the risk of creating “aid orphans” in other key areas and sectors as donors prioritise immediate responses to the pandemic.
Pending a more systemic response, the JPA called on EU and ACP States to consider more ambitious budget support for the most fragile countries.
The recovery “should not leave anyone behind”, in line with the UN sustainable development agenda, according to MEPs and ACP members.
The JPA reaffirmed the inalienable right of peoples to choose their own political, economic and social development, while condemning any attempt by foreign powers and multinationals to destabilise and interfere in the ACP countries.
It noted that the global economy decline opens countries up to the predatory tactics of investment strategies that have the potential to make developing countries dependent on the sole owner of their critical infrastructure, most notably energy, transport and health systems.
It also called on the IMF and World Bank to step up their debt relief efforts.
Recalling that one of the main challenges for developing countries is to climb up the global value chain through economic diversification, the JPA called on the EU to refrain from adopting a trade policy that prohibits, as a general rule, ACP countries from levying export taxes on raw materials insofar as this is compatible with WTO rules, notably for industrial development and environmental protection purposes.
The JPA called on the EU Member States, the Commission and ACP States to make combating youth unemployment a priority for the EU-ACP partnership and to make full use of European financial instruments and programmes in order to address youth unemployment in the ACP States and enhance youth employability.
Free universal access to vaccines and treatments. The JPA supports the WHO in their efforts to make vaccines a global public good. It supports, at a national and European level, the establishment of a public centre for pharmaceutical research, production and distribution to ensure free and universal access to the Covid-19 vaccine, while also urging the European Commission and Member States to commit to making pandemic vaccines and treatments a global public good that is freely available to all.
See the resolution (language consolidation still to be done): https://bit.ly/3vlx7SX (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)