Although the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA), which brings together MEPs and parliamentarians from the 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries linked to the EU by the Cotonou Agreement, ended smoothly in Brussels on Wednesday 28 June, all the participants deplored the fact that the post-Cotonou Agreement has still not been signed by the Europeans (see EUROPE 13208/5).
The urgent call to sign was reiterated at the opening of the JPA by the co-presidents, Carlos Zorrinho (S&D, Portuguese) and Ana Rita Sithole (MP from Mozambique), and then in the debates with the Council Presidency and the European Commission.
“To be frank, Poland’s blocking was the sinister elephant in the room. We need to be serious and show credibility to our partners if we want to establish multilateralism based on equal footing and mutual trust”, summarised Hannes Heide, S&D Group coordinator, on Wednesday.
The parliamentarians adopted the rules of procedure of the future JPA and the three future regional assemblies (for Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific) provided for in the post-Cotonou Agreement (see EUROPE 12699/2).
All the resolutions were adopted by a large majority: those on the situation in Haiti and the humanitarian situation in countries affected by terrorism, and the current resolutions on international maritime safety, road safety in ACP and EU countries, and the fight against money laundering (see EUROPE 13207/25). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)