Brussels, 04/02/2000 (Agence Europe) - The ACP/EU Partnership for Development Agreement, which will replace the Lomé Convention upon its expiry on 29 February next, has been concluded for a 20-year duration. This unsurprising result, obtained on Thursday night at the conclusion of the fourth and final ministerial negotiating conference, nevertheless necessitated extremely laborious bargaining over the wording of the clause governing the readmission of illegal immigrants (see yesterday's EUROPE, page 9).
The ceremony for the signature of the accord, which will serve as the framework for political, trade and co-operation relations between the 71 states of the ACP group (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific) and the European Union, will take place on 31 May next in Suva (Fiji), in accordance with the unanimous wish of the ACP states. Luis Amado, President-in-Office of the Council of the Union and Portugal's State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, officially announced the decision at a final press conference, welcoming the fact that, "in these times of world turmoil, the privileged relations between the ACP and the Union -geopolitical relations with tremendous meaning- have been extended for two decades". John Horne, President-in-Office of the ACP Council and Minister for Trade and Consumers of St Vincent and the Grenadines, did not conceal his satisfaction over having sealed a negotiating process that lasted nearly 18 months. "It was a long and arduous exercise, but in the final analysis and given the very firm initial positions of the two parties, we reached a satisfactory conclusion. We succeeded in protecting the spirit of co-operation that has always marked ACP-EU relations", he observed. Mentioning the stepped-up pace of globalisation and the commitment of the ACP states to steer gradually towards free trade, he recalled the levels of development of the 71 ACP states, noting: "It will be up to us to ensure that our advantages are protected, just as it will be up to us to make better use of the facilities offered to us, to guarantee better allocation of resources and improved procedures for more effective co-operation."
On behalf of the Commission, Poul Nielson insisted on the innovative nature of the new agreement, stating: "This is not a routine prolongation of ACP-EU relations, but a deep-rooted change reflecting developments in the world and the effects of globalisation and adding a new responsibility to our partnership. We have enlarged the scope of the agreement with a political dimension that until now has been taboo. We have opened the partnership to civil society and insisted on the role of good governance. We want to fight bureaucracy, but also corruption, which will be at the centre of attention." Particularly pleased over the solution found to the sensitive issue of immigration, he added: "We were not afraid to take up the gauntlet, which was a demonstration of political courage. Article 13 will provide the base that will enable us to conclude bilateral agreements with each of the ACP states."
Philippe Lowe, chief negotiator for the Europeans, added that the new trade arrangements, to be negotiated between 2002 (date of closure of the procedure for ratification of the agreement) and 2008 to replace the current system of unilateral commercial preferences, would be both compatible with WTO rules and non-discriminatory against the least advanced non-ACP countries. "During the eight-year preparatory period, the Union will support the setting into place of administrative structures and the process of regional integration vital to the elaboration of regional economic partnership agreements", he explained. And he recalled in this connection that the ACP states would be free to decide in 2004 whether or not to participate in such agreements with the Union, in terms of their capacities. In the event of a negative decision, solutions will be found for guaranteeing the countries concerned a system equivalent to that of the Lomé Convention. The question will not arise for the 38 countries of the ACP group coming under the category of the least developed countries, because they will enjoy -along with all LDCs around the world starting in 2004- duty-free access to the European market for virtually all their products. And to compensate for the deterioration of the competitiveness of the ACP states that could result from this extension of liberalisation, the Union has agreed to examine specific cases, to remedy any injury.
Cuba's candidacy to be examined by the Fifteen as soon as it is formally presented
Asked about the ACP-EU plenary's reaction to the resolution adopted by the ACP group in support of Cuba's request for admission to the ACP group and adherence to the new agreement, Commissioner Nielson replied that this subject had not been discussed. "We have received no formal request for Cuban accession. So there is nothing new from the legal standpoint." And he added that this point would be examined by the Fifteen when the time comes. Of course, the letter sent on 26 January 1998 by Cuba's Foreign Minister to Cariforum, the ACP Secretariat General and the European Commission called for Cuba's participation in the "negotiation of the new agreement, in order to sign it upon its conclusion and accede to Cariforum and the ACP group". But, continued Mr Nielson, Cuba has always expressed the wish to examine the outcome of the negotiation first and to apply formally for membership in the ACP group only in the light of this examination. "I had a conversation with members of the government, the last time in December, during the December negotiations. That was their position." There will consequently be no developments on the European side pending Cuba's request.
The following is the result of the negotiations on the most disputed point, namely the readmission of illegal immigrants. The problem was settled thanks to the EU's acceptance of more flexible wording -in comparison to its initial position- of provisions on the readmission of stateless illegal immigrants or those in transit (from third countries), to be negotiated in the context of bilateral agreements. The compromise text establishes the possibility of negotiating, at the request of one of the parties (the Union on one side, each ACP state individually on the, other) arrangements for the readmission of stateless or third-country illegal immigrants. It was also clearly stipulated that these arrangements would have to define precisely the categories of persons to which they would apply and details for both the readmission and return of these persons to their place of departure. The text respects the spirit of the Union's standard clause and of the Tampere Summit, but adds flexibility to the letter, say observers.