Brussels, 09/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - The international conference on the participation of civil society in implementing the Cotonou Agreement linking the European Union to the 77 ACP countries (see EUROPE of 6 July, p.10) ended successfully on Saturday. The 200 participants summed up the fruit of their reflection in a statement that sets out the recommendations of the ACP civil society and an action plan laying the basis for effective recourse to the right of participation conferred for the first time on non-governmental actors by the ACP/EU partnership agreement. These recommendations and the plan will be put to the Committee of Ambassadors on Thursday then to the Development Council on 8 November. The plan is geared to four objectives: dialogue (on the national and sub-regional programme, trade negotiations, decentralised cooperation, political cooperation and financial cooperation); the establishment or the enhancement of civil society and of its capacities at national, sub-regional and global level; the follow-up and assessment of the implementation of the Cotonou Agreement and of the action plan. The ACP civil society plans to ensure that the liberalisation and the deregulation of the ACP economies recommended in the Cotonou Agreement do not hamper the aim of eliminating poverty. It insists on the setting in place of capacities allowing it to take part in the implementation, follow-up and assessment of the Agreement and on the imperious need, for each ACP State, to have a structured, democratically organised, responsible and transparent civil society. The plan calls for the establishment of a permanent presence of the ACP civil society at global level and the granting of financial resources to make this possible. It calls on the governments and on the ACP secretariat and the European Commission to set in place a panel of independent non-state actors in order to assess the various effects of the Cotonou Agreement on the ACP countries.
Speaking to the press, Eddy Boutmans, Belgian Secretary of State for Development, stressed on Monday that the implementation of the Agreement's provisions concerning the involvement of the civil society was one of the priorities of the Council Presidency. "This kind of joint initiative between a European Presidency and the ACP Secretariat general has never been taken before. It is the first of its kind (…). This kind of joint organisation may contribute to a better understanding (…) and hence make a positive contribution to the political dialogue (…) which is also one of the innovations of the Cotonou Agreement", he declared.
As the conference opened, Poul Nielson, Development Commissioner, noted that the innovation introduced by the Cotonou Agreement results from the emergence of new forms of participatory democracy. "Within the Commission, we are taking this participatory approach very seriously", he said, considering that its success "depends on a common understanding of the roles by the different players". It is, he says, appropriate to build on existing local structures, not to work in isolation, but in coordination with the other donors, count on NGOs which are "not manageable organisations", use European experience in the best possible way without imposing it as a model but as a "good source of democratic values", and strengthen the alliance between the NGOs of the EU and of the ACP. The Commission will study the consequences of a partnership involving several actors, and "we shall learn on the ground, little by little", he added.
The Namibian ambassador (representing the president of the ACP Council) stressed the importance of institutionalising dialogue with the civil society, as was the case for social dialogue. "The challenge is to find the concrete means so that the governments and the civil society work hand in hand to the service of the populations", he states, specifying that "civil society must not be a trampoline for unsuccessful politicians sowing unrest against governments". Dialogue with the civil society should, he says, help policies to be formulated, with the State remaining "the supreme authority in the definition of development policies and strategies". Serge Clair, ACP Co-President of the Parliamentary Assembly, warned against the proliferation of institutions and urged for a stage by stage approach, "in order not to give rise to unrealistic expectations".
Mr Lutero, Deputy Secretary General of the ACP Group, said: "the role of ACP civil society in the Cotonou Agreement is very clear. We wanted more consultation", and the "civil society must decide itself, and for itself, how it plans to organise and structure itself for the best". The role of ACP Secretariat, he said, would be to facilitate the effective participation of the civil society in ACP/EU cooperation.
Mr Senitouli, Representative for the NGO Tonga Human Rights and Democracies welcomed the commitment made by the Belgian Presidency to ensure the action plan would be followed up, but expressed the disappointment of the ACP civil society that no commitment had been made concerning the financial resources needed to implement the plan. Speaking to the ACP civil society, he said: "We must now continue dialogue in our own countries and regions".