Bridgetown, 21/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - The ACP/EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, which brought 70 MEPs and the same number of ACP (Africa/Caribbean/Pacific) delegates together in Bridgetown (Barbados) gave an indication on 20 November of its commitment to the fight against poverty and its concerns regarding threats to the progress of these countries attaining the Millennium Development Objectives. The lack of drinking water, weapons sales to poor countries, on-going negotiations on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) between the EU and six of the ACP regions are three of the themes on the agenda but are no less significant than the others, judging by the tone of the speeches made at the opening of the session. The impact of tourism on development, is another subject of debate and provides, on the other hand, prospects for small island countries like Barbados, that needs encouraging.
Ms Billie A. Miller, the foreign affairs and external trade minister for Barbados emphasised this in no uncertain terms at the opening of the session in response to criticism made by the British press (The Times, 12 November), which accused MEPs and ACP delegates of thinking about problems to do with poverty, while holidaying in some of the most luxurious places on the island. Citing the burning question of the Economic Partnership Agreements, which will be the subject of an JPA emergency resolution to tackle some of the shared concerns about the real “development dimension” in these agreements, their compatibility with WTO rules and which are supposed to be concluded at the end of 2007 and enter into force in 2008, Ms Miller stated, “Last June we were in Vienna. Tourism is just as important for Vienna as it is for Barbados. We are a small, vulnerable economy. We have the will to be the best and demonstrate that we are able to host such an important meeting. The Times made no complaints about the APP in Edinburgh. When it was held in Brazzaville or in Mali, Times didn't say a thing. Instead of encouraging us, we are blamed. We have important issues to discuss”.
The ACP co-president was pleased that the assembly coincides very closely with the fortieth anniversary of Barbados' independence and said that she was proud of the progress achieved by her country since November 1966 “in an age when the forces of globalisation and liberalisation are rampant” but underlined that “we intend to chart a good and determined course forward”.
Glenys Kinnock, British Labour Party and JPA co-president expressed her outrage that in the 21 century 5000 children will die every year of diorreah after drinking dirty water; that 1400 women will die in pregnancy or childbirth and that100 million children of school age, one third of them girls, will not go to school. She affirmed that the only solution for ACP countries is to be able to attain the millennium objectives was for the ACP and EU to obtain the means for implementing basic public services and universal access to these services in the understanding that the market alone cannot assume these vital tasks. She also deplored the World Bank and IMF diktat pressurising developing countries to agree to privatisation and liberalisation measures. The co-president hammered home the fact that, “the provision of a strong public sector is, as Europe knows, the key to delivering development and social justice. We need to see advances in health and education, and this must be at the very heart of making poverty history”.
Ms Kinnock criticised EU Member States that were not keeping the promises they made at the G8 Gleneagles Summit. She stressed that in 2010, most countries will only be paying 0.36% of their GDP in public development aid (PDA) as was the case in 1987. She said that she also wanted to see pressure exerted on the German government during its presidency of the Council of the EU next year to hold a donors conference and ensure that the commitments are respected for increasing PDA by €8bn a year, funding requirement for dealing with the needs of education.
WTO derogation should not be used as alibi for hasty signing of agreements
detrimental to ACP development
In her speech on the EPA chapter, Kinnock clarified the fact that Europe was negotiating EPAs with the ACP group, which included some of the most vulnerable economies in the world, the widest range of less advanced countries, small island countries and land-locked countries that had been hard hit by the fall in prices of raw materials. Perspectives for reciprocal agreements will require a radical change in relations with the EU, she stressed. The co-president said that this explained why there had been some reticence shown by the ACP countries, which was not a negotiating tactic but the political expression of profound frustration in ACP countries. Ms Kinnock asserted that the direct political participation of ACP trade ministers in negotiation meetings in Berlin and London two weeks ago bore this out and highlighted the real problems existing in all the regions.
She went on to cite the request made by the Mauritian minister in favour of EPAs that are acceptable from the social and economic point of views, as well as the problems of the Pacific region (evoked by the minister for Fiji), that are interested in the trade in services and not by opening up their markets, and Billie Miller's call that one should not be “terrorised” by expiry of the WTO waiver at the end of 2007.
“Expiry of the WTO waiver should not be used to argue for the need to sign up to an agreement that is perceived as detrimental to ACP development interests”, Ms Kinnock said. In so doing, she passed on the request of ACPs to be able to negotiate additional time (one more year, for example) for closer examination of the impact that EPAs will have on their economies, and to determine, sector by sector, the sensitive products requiring safeguard clauses over sufficiently long periods of up to fifteen years or more.
Concerns expressed by ACP countries wanting to control the rate and extent of market liberalisation, and their refusal to accept within the framework of EPAs what they had radically rejected at the WTO (Singapore questions), are, they believe, legitimate. To this must be added the risk of upsetting the process of regional integration undertaken by ACPs, that do not always coincide with the integrated regional entities negotiating with the EU, and the different views concerning the financing of flanking measures. Will the one billion euros promised by Member States to support trade truly be fresh money or recycled money, as Ms Kinnock fears? Given all these problems, the European co-president wonders whether it might not be possible to grant market access without quotas and without customs duties (Ed.: Everything But Arms initiative) to all ACP States.
For Mrs Kinnock, it is obvious that concessions must be made for ACPs to make up for reform in the banana and sugar trade, and the losses of customs revenue (€3.5 billion for Africa, she said), that will entail gradual dismantling of customs tariffs. As she sees it, the quest for the development grail must continue not only for resources but also regarding key issues such as special and differentiated treatment and the rules of origin.
Stressing the fact that progress is slow when it comes to negotiation with all ACP regions, René Radembino-Coniquet, ACP Co-president of the JPA, noted that essential issues are still outstanding although urgent solutions are needed to ease constraints linked to supply in ACP countries and find additional financial resources for effective application of EPAs. The timetable set must be kept, he stressed, saying he was concerned by the fact that the Aid for Trade programme at the WTO aims to help implementation of WTO rules although, in his view, the very best implementation of such rules can bring neither progress nor prosperity to ACP countries. The rich countries are seeking to make up for the absence of an agreement at the WTO with bilateral agreements, Mr Radembino-Coniquet said, stressing that the solution lies in concluding the Doha Agenda. He pointed out that increased poverty, the “constant lack” and the conflicts fuelled by arms sales to irresponsible forces are a threat to stability in ACP countries, and also to international peace and security.
Owen Arthur, Prime Minister and Finance Minister for Barbados, was still more forceful, stressing the need for social cohesion. In the Caribbean, he said, “we do not want an integrated economy which is a permanent but unequal coalition. Also, with other regions of the world, we do not want a coalition between unequal partners. (…) The EU must allow ACP States to pursue their regional integration in a sustainable manner from the economic and social point of view. We want the time and space necessary to enhance our integration according to our own priorities”. Although Caricom and the EU agree to strengthen the regional integration process, there are many differences when it comes to methods and rate, the prime minister explained. He went on to criticise the EU for conceiving development as integration accompanied by liberalisation accompanied by strict rules on trade and investment, without taking into account structural constraints at the origin of supply inflexibility in ACP countries. In his view, development lies in flexible application of trade rules, more effective access for ACP goods and services on the European market, application of special and differentiated treatment, and the reinforcement of ACP capacities - all things for which the ACP want firm commitments form the EU in terms of support to “meet the legitimate needs of the ACP” countries. Given that Europe has taken fifty years to prepare its societies for trade liberalisation, it cannot expect that ACP countries make too many adjustments in too short a time. This, he added, could prove fatal and just as harmful as no adjustments at all.
It is not a question of status quo, Commissioner Louis Michel stresses
Speaking before the JPA, Louis Michel, Development Commissioner, repeated that EPAs are not an aim in themselves, the only goal being that of “promoting sustainable development to eradicate poverty in a context of change, namely globalisation and an increasingly liberalised world economy”.
Recalling that major unilateral trade preferences have not allowed ACP States to take part in world growth and escape marginalisation, the Commissioner said that “status quo would be a mistake”, and that there is “no other option” than negotiation of EPAs that “can become the instrument of an ambitious reform programme based on regional integration and the development of production capacities and economic reform”.
Rather than “sticking to their positions”, the Commissioner called for more intense and indispensable dialogue to exploit the flexibility of WTO rules to the uttermost, not only as far as the timetable goes but also regarding market opening.
The Commissioner said there should be real confidence. The EU has no strategic trade goals, he went on, saying the distrust among ACP countries can be seen in the fact that they have blocked reforms and by the paternalistic tone used by Europeans. Speaking to reporters, Louis Michel said he understood the request concerning more social cohesion and universal access to basic education and health services - aims that the Commission shares but which are above all up to the leaders of ACP States to implement, he pointed out. “With EPAs, we are proposing a levelling to ACPs, which will allow them to come onto our markets. No structural reform is painless. Globalisation offers a unique opportunity for ACP States as they have enormous comparative advantages: no financial constraints at the social level, hourly rates that defy all competition and raw materials in abundance. The only danger lies in liberalising a weak State”, Louis Michel added. Hence the importance, he said, to strengthen ACP States so that they may carry out their main government functions to the service of their populations' wellbeing. The Commission is ready to help them in this with €3 billion in support for good governance under the 10th European Development Fund. (an)
Presentation of the plenary session of the European Parliament (29 and 30 November)