Brussels, 07/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - At its third plenary session, in Brussels last week, the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly adopted three reports on access to the information society, the impact of sanctions on populations and sources of renewable energy, as well as many resolutions, to which we shall return. Implementation of the Cotonou Agreement was also raised on several occasions. The next session will be held in Cape Town in South Africa from 18 to 21 March.
- Implementation of the Partnership Agreement: from the very outset of the session, the President of the ACP Council, Ulukalala Lavaka Ata (Tonga), considered that despite the European Commission's proclaimed objective of injecting 3 to 3.5 billion euro a year to support ACP-EU co-operation over the next seven years, the latest published figures revealed an enormous gap between the intended aim and commitments actually realised. He hoped that the meeting of national and regional donors with the Commission and EIB, scheduled for December, would enable them to find real solutions to some of these difficulties. He also seized the opportunity to refer to the concerns of the ACP Group at the Commission's decision to close down or reduce the level of its delegations in six ACP States, which, as he sees it, is an ambiguous message on the real dimension of European commitment to the Cotonou partnership. Two concerns equally shared by several European and ACP parliamentarians who did not fail to question Commissioner Poul Nielson, who promised that the money would be allocated as planned, respecting the procedures but without further delay. Regarding the suppression of certain delegations or the reduction in the number of posts, Mr. Nielson recalled that reforms had begun in 1996 in the perspective of rationalisation. Currently, 27 posts are not occupied, which is not enormous out of a total of 730 subjected to rotation, the Commissioner considered, stating that among the delegations that should be abolished in future there were those of Trinidad and Tobago. Initially, the offices in Grenada and the Seychelles were closed down. In 2000, the delegations of Cap Verde and Togo were transformed into offices. It was then decided this year to close down the offices of the following countries in 2002: Antigua, Barbados, Comoro Islands, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tomé et Principe, Tonga. The Commissioner recalled that it was the Council and Parliament that had set at 120 the maximum number of external delegations.
Thirty-two ACP countries and only one EU Member State, Denmark, have so far ratified the Cotonou Agreement. The ACP members of the Parliamentary Assembly launched an appeal on all countries concerned to step up the pace.
The Parliamentary Assembly, moreover, postponed its vote on the report by the member of the People's Republic of Benin, Edgar-Yves Monnou, on implementation of the Partnership Agreement. This report, which essentially concerns the amendment to the Assembly's rules of procedure and its "parliamentarisation", is still a long way from having unanimous approval within the Assembly. The cause, notably, being a draft Article 2 providing for members of the Assembly having to be parliamentarians, and countries only being able to be represented exceptionally by an ambassador who does not have voting rights.
Also worth noting that the ACP Group chose a successor to the current ACP co-President of the Assembly, the Mauritian Louis-Serge Clair. It is now Adrien Houngbedji, President of the National assembly of Benin, who will take office next year.
- ACP States access to global communications: by adopting a report by the German Social Democrat, Karin Junker, the Assembly stressed the importance of access to information technologies for the promotion of sustainable development and democracy in ACP countries, but noted that the equipment in these countries remained inadequate. The Assembly urged the EU, in close co-operation with ACP governments, to support the spread of these technologies while ensuring the safeguard of regional cultures and traditions. The EU is urged to implement a development programme for information technologies in ACP countries, providing, notably, for legal and regulatory frameworks, the setting up of infrastructures, elaboration of standards, establishment of systems and mechanisms enabling rural or isolated communities to have access to information in matters of education, health and trade. The Assembly regard it as essential that the European Commission and Parliament should organise conferences and seminars where realistic projects could be debated, in anticipation of the World Information Society Summit, in Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005.
- Impact of sanctions and embargoes on local population. Adopting the report by Richard Cheltenham (Barbados) on the impact of sanctions and embargoes on the people of the countries concerned, the Assembly noted that these ways of applying pressure tend to be used against developing countries whose population is already living in highly precarious circumstances and is therfore particularly vulnerable. It recognised, however, that depending on the country in question, different sanctions could have greater or lesser results such as the decision to suspend purchases of oil or diamonds from countries that derive a large proportion of their revenue from these sales. It believes that certain types of sanctions should be looked into in greater detail, namely arms embargoes (including spare parts); freezing and seizing assets and the transfer of money by groups of people targeted by the sanctions; travel restrictions on leader, their families and supporters and movements and, in some cases, on people visiting the country or region in question; monitoring the import and export of goods of particular strategic importance; developing international humanitarian legislation to make it possible to take action against leaders responsible for violating human rights in any third country; sanctions against individuals and companies that violate legitimate embargoes; and restrictions on access to telecommunications networks, including telecommunications and the internet.
- Using renewable energy sources in ACPs. Adopting the report by Swedish Conservative Anders Wijkman, the parliamentary assembly welcomed the European Commission's decision to organise regional seminars into the use of renewable energy sources for decision-makers in ACP countries with the aim of increasing the number of projects in this area. It also called for measures to be taken to promote energy efficiency and a better use of regional complementarities in order to make economies of scale. The assembly also welcomed the decisions taken in Bonn in July 2001 (at COP6) for combating climate change.
