Whether it is the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) or the fight against products associated with deforestation, the EU must help the countries of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) to overcome the barriers - tariff or non-tariff - that could hinder their access to the European market, stressed MEPs and their colleagues from the 79 OACPS countries, at the 42nd ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA).
An emergency resolution was adopted on 2 November in Maputo (Mozambique) ‘on ensuring market access for OACPS commodity-producing countries by enhancing sustainable consumption and production patterns’ (see EUROPE 13053/19).
The issue here is access to the European market for commodities from these countries in the context of EU policies to make production and consumption more sustainable globally. Parliamentarians are particularly concerned about the trade deficits of these countries, especially LDCs, which are not on track to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG1 on poverty eradication and SDG12 on responsible consumption and production.
This resolution “recognises the concrete difficulties that OACPS producers may face in complying with and adapting to the new set of EU sustainability rules for market access. Therefore, the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly calls on the EU to provide the necessary accompanying measures in the form of technical and financial assistance to support producers, exporters and national authorities in the OACPS countries”, welcomed Peter Kenilorea Jr.
“Fair and sustainable trade is one of the main drivers of the partnership of equals that we want to build”, recalled the JPA’s European co-president, Carlos Zorrihno (S&D, Portuguese), referring to the post-Cotonou agreement that is supposed to take over from the Cotonou agreement when it is signed by the EU and then ratified (see EUROPE 13055/8).
“OACPS countries believe that the GSP, GSP+, Everything But Arms scheme is not working. We need to analyse the mechanisms that act as brakes on exports. As soon as the EU takes tariff measures, we need to discuss them together to anticipate the impact and prepare ourselves to respond”, summarised Maria Arena (S&D, Belgian).
The resolution calls on the EU to take note of the difficulties of the OACPS countries regarding the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and the diversification of their economies, industrialisation and the promotion of intra-regional trade. It stresses the need, where appropriate, to reform trade agreements with these countries and to accompany them with capacity building and technical assistance to enable the completion and effective implementation of these agreements.
The JPA notes that the ‘European Green Deal’ and the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy present considerable opportunities but also challenges, namely for OACPS producers, who will be forced to modify their production and supply systems to comply with the new EU legislation, with the risk of seriously disrupting, at least in the short term, their exports to the EU, thus further deteriorating their terms of trade with the EU.
ACP and EU parliamentarians are concerned that this legislation could create technical barriers to trade and/or non-tariff barriers for ACP exporters and that compliance with these new rules could place a considerable economic burden on ACP farmers, leading to increased poverty and seriously undermining the ability and prospects of most ACP countries to achieve the SDGs.
They call on the EU to better align its free trade policy with its social and environmental policies and to ensure that its legislation does not negatively affect ACP exports and is compatible with WTO rules.
See the resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/3w4 (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)