Brussels, 08/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday in Strasbourg, the European Parliament will examine the report by French Socialist Marie-Arlette Carlotti on the work of the ACP-EU Joint Assembly.
The report regrets that the majority of European Union Member States have not yet ratified the Cotonou Agreement and calls on them to ratify it at their earliest convenience. Up till now only four Member States (Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom) have ratified the agreement signed in June 2000, whereas from the ACP side, instruments for ratification have been introduced by 39 of the 51 countries needed for the agreement to enter into force and for the Ninth European development fund to be implemented. The report proposes that the Assembly be given new powers to enable it to carry out financial and political inspections of co-operation funding, negotiating and ratifying new agreements and calls on the Commission to reconsider the closure of delegations and the subsequent reduction in staff in ACP countries.
By adopting this report, the Development Committee also wanted to reaffirm the principle, according to which, the parliamentary character of the Joint Assembly would mean having only representatives from countries where the members are elected democratically. In this connection, the votes of non-parliamentary representatives would not be considered the norm but provisional and subject to approval by the Assembly's plenary. The report demonstrates that the working group on regulation developed a compromise measure in response to this issue and requests that it is examined by the Assembly at its next meeting in South Africa. It states that, "the joint-parliamentary character of the Assembly, as well as its democratic legitimacy will only be really effective once it has resolved the fundamental imbalance between the European contingent, which reflects the political composition of the European Parliament and the plurality of its political opinions, and the system of ACP countries founded on the principle of 'one country one vote', which in practice rules out the expression of different political views". With this in mind, the report requests the opening of an all-embracing review (with no taboos) on voting, that will develop a system that guarantees real parity and political plurality, together with the practical means for supporting such a system. In order to guarantee more transparent and equitable management, as well as funding to support ACP delegates participating, the report suggests creating a fund exclusively for this goal. On procedural changes the report suggests getting rid of the voting by a separate electoral college and calls on the European college to immediately stop using this procedure in the framework of a tacit or open moratorium. It also calls for some thematic workshops to be revised in favour of more practical themes linked to local communities and facilitating "on-the-ground" visits, particularly when a meeting is occurring in an ACP country. The report would like to set up a "democracy bonus" in the form of material or financial support to improve co-operation between civil society and NGOs.
Plenary Session at Cape Town
The fourth plenary session of the Joint Assembly will bring together 77 ACP parliamentarians (1 per country) and 77 MEPs in Cape Town (South Africa) between 18-21 March. The meeting will be opened by Acting President of the Union Council, Ramon de Miguel and ACP Acting President, Magnujs Kpakol. Commissioner Poul Nielson will be absent as he has to attend the United Nations summit in Monterrey, on development aid. The Assembly will discuss: the democratic process in ACP countries; implementation of the New Partnership for African Development Aid (NPADA); the situation in the different regions and countries (Madagascar, Zimbabwe and Cuba) and amendment to the regulation. Three workshops will be organised on sustainable development, immigration, and education and social organisation in south Africa.