The post-Cotonou Partnership Agreement, initialled in April 2021 by the EU and the Organisation of 79 ACP States (OACPS), will finally be signed by the EU and its Member States to give substance to a modernised and renewed partnership (see EUROPE 12699/2).
The proposal for an EU Council Decision authorising the signature and provisional entry into force of the EU-OACPS Partnership Agreement will be submitted to the Foreign Affairs Ministers of the EU27 on Thursday 20 July for approval without debate.
Following the agreement reached on Tuesday by the EU27 ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) and announced by the Spanish Presidency of the Council, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron, at the end of the EU/CELAC summit (see EUROPE 13225/26), Poland confirmed to Coreper on Wednesday that it was lifting its reservation (see EUROPE 13175/1).
A diplomatic source said on the same day: “It now remains to agree with the OACPS on the place and date of signing”.
The ACP countries initially wanted the signing ceremony to take place in Samoa last June, but the Polish reserve decided otherwise.
On Tuesday evening, the Spanish Presidency described the post-Cotonou Partnership Agreement as “essential for cooperation between the EU and the 79 ACP countries on human and social development, economic growth and development, environmental sustainability, and migration and mobility”.
This mixed agreement, comprising an umbrella agreement and three tailor-made regional protocols (Africa/Caribbean/Pacific), requires the signature of the EU and its Member States, as well as the 79 ACP States. The European Parliament will still have to give its consent (ratification) and the ACP countries will also have to ratify it.
A Polish source told EUROPE on Wednesday: “We reiterate our will to maintain the partnership with OACPS. Poland remains supportive for the ACP countries, especially when it comes to countering global consequences of Russian war against Ukraine in terms of food and energy security”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)