The Hague, 26/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - Rich in discussion on the situation in Ivory Coast, Sudan (Darfur) and the African Great Lake region, with abundant reflection and workshops on ways to intensify political dialogue and partnership between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to better combat poverty, the ACP/EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) on Thursday in The Hague concluded its work on a positive note: - the official announcement by the Ambassador of Ethiopia that the border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia would soon be over. The ambassador presented a five-point proposal from his government to resolve the border dispute between the two countries and calls on the JPA to support it. This gesture of openness was cautiously welcomed by the Eritrean representative who asked to see whether, on the ground, the announcement was to be taken seriously, given that the decision by the border commission, adopted in 2002, was binding and final. The two JPA co-presidents, British Labour member Glenys Kinnock and Surinam parliamentarian Ramdien Sardjoe, welcomed this good news at a time when the JPA is learning of further ceasefire violations in Sudan and the risk of further Rwandan and DRC incursions (yesterday's EUROPE, p.8).
This eighth session of the JPA - the last for Ramdien Sarjoe, who is to be replaced by Sharon Webster, parliamentarian from Jamaica - adopted two emergency resolutions: one on Sudan (EUROPE of 24 November, p.7), and the other on the cyclones in the Caribbean, mirroring the concerns of the small island states in the region devastated by these natural disasters, and calling for the creation of an ACP/EU financial facility to cover natural disasters in order to face the damage, the setting in place of rapid intervention mechanisms to rapidly reconstruct socio-economic infrastructures, and ratification by all countries of the Kyoto Protocol on climate changes.
The Assembly also adopted a resolution on political dialogue under the Cotonou Agreement (Article 8), which establishes guidelines for the implementation of this dialogue so that it is inclusive (the JPA asks to be a player, and for civil society players to be called upon to take part), permanent, as wide-reaching as possible, and worthy of true partnership between equal interlocutors, which rules out any unilateral decision-making. The resolution conveys the concerns of the ACP group, which considers political dialogue as it is carried out today is more like a stick policy through unilateral measures under Article 96, rather than a policy of problem prevention.
The resolution on food aid and food security in the ACP countries calls for efforts to be stepped up so that all the populations of the ACP countries have access to safe food in sufficient quantity. It urges the international community to firmly pledge to attain the goals of the 2002 World Summit on Food, and calls on developing countries and European institutions to cooperate in creating a legislative and technical framework allowing ACP countries to comply with food safety rules.
The vote on the resolution concerning inclusion in the budget of the European Development Fund was postponed until the next session, to allow both co-rapporteurs to bring their points of view closer.
Glenys Kinnock welcomed the "growing maturity of debates" within the JPA, which is mainly shown by the unanimous resolution on Sudan. "It is not as strong as the Europeans would have liked but we have avoided the risk of not having any solution at all (…). It integrates the Security Council's position but does not simply say that Nairobi was a great success. If, on 31 December, there is no progress, then we shall decide what to do in consequence", she told the press. The co-president also welcomed the fact that the JPA is taking part next year at the UN conference on review of the Millennium Development Goals, to make the voice of the 93 countries that it represents heard. Jean-Robert Goulangana, Secretary General of the ACP Group, welcomed for his part the formal decision taken in The Hague to create a Joint Parliamentary Assembly that will "make a de facto situation legal" but "which will give greater visibility for entering into dialogue with the regional assemblies". In his view, the emergence of a consensus on the guarantees requested by ACPs regarding the preservation of funds allocated to ACP countries in the case of EDF budgetary inclusion is also to be appreciated - as are the conclusions of a JPA seminar on the strengthening of parliamentarians' role in the implementation of the Cotonou Agreement, which will make it possible to "better grasp the content of the agreement and to strengthen ACP intra-parliamentary dialogue".
The ninth session of the Assembly will be held in Bamako (Mali) from 18 to 21 April. The tenth, from 19 to 24 November 2005, will probably be held in Edinburgh (but perhaps in Newcastle).
Sharon Webster, the future ACP Co-President who is a national of a sugar producing country, has told the press that, in addition to the follow-up for resolutions adopted, her priority would be to keep a watchful eye on the consequences of the sugar regime reform on the ground and on the development dimension of the future economic partnership agreements.