Contrary to what we wrote in the article on the signing of the Samoa Agreement between the EU, its Member States and the 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries that are members of the Organisation of ACP States (OACP or OACPS) (see EUROPE 13293/19), the regional parliamentary assemblies (PAs) will not replace but complement the OACPS-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) (which is referred to as the ACP-EU JPA in the Cotonou Agreement).
There will therefore be an Africa-EU PA, a Caribbean-EU PA, a Pacific-EU PA and an OACPS-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.
Each assembly will hold one plenary session per year (alternating between Europe and the OACPS countries). This frequency is provided for in the Samoa Agreement for the OACPS-EU JPA and, for the three regional assemblies, in their provisional rules of procedure (approved by the former OACPS-EU JPA), but these will be adopted once the assemblies are able to meet. All other meetings will take place either on the fringes of a OACPS plenary session or virtually. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)