Brussels, 27/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - Will the ACP (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific) countries and the EU be able to conclude the much decried and painfully slowly negotiated Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with six ACP regional blocks within the set timescale? That is the main question to be decided by the joint EU/ACP ministerial trade committee in Brussels on the afternoon of 1 March.
This joint negotiation meeting will bring together all the ACP countries, each represented by two ministers (Trade Minister and national authorising officer), all the EU member states, probably represented by their ambassadors to Brussels, and European Commissioners Peter Mandelson for Trade and Louis Michel for development (in its usual form, the joint ministerial trade committee brings together only 26 of the 78 ACP countries). The presence of the two Commissioners is necessary because, if the EPAs, negotiated under the Cotonou agreement, seek to set up, on 1 January 2008, a new trade regime in line with WTO rules, development will be the central aim of these agreements, trade not being an end in itself, but an instrument for development. The ACP countries and the EU have said they shared this objective, but in fact, both sides are completely at odds on the arrangements for the development dimension of the EPAs. The Commission wants a joint declaration on the conclusion of the negotiation process within the deadline, that is, by 31 December 2007, by which date the derogation obtained at the WTO for the unilateral trade preferences regime will run out.
At this crucial stage in the negotiations, however, - the overall assessments of the negotiations with the group of regions, laid down by Article 37 of the Cotonou Agreement - there is every reason to be doubtful as to the entry into force of the EPAs on I January 20085. According to a source close to the ACP Council, it would appear that only the Caribbean region wants and is ready to conclude within the timescale. The other ACP countries - especially the African countries - do not rule out a request to postpone the deadline (possibly until 2010 for the African countries). Not being sure that priority will be given to the development of their production capacities nor that they will benefit from the necessary resources to meet the costs of adjusting to trade liberalisation, the risks for their vulnerable economies of opening their market to the competition from developed partners would be too great for them to accept too rapid conclusion of negotiations on issues as delicate as rules of origin, reciprocity and the timetable for asymmetrical liberalisation of trade from 2008. According to the European Commission, West Africa, Central Africa and the Caribbean have guaranteed that they would conclude on time. The African countries say it was more of an agreement in principle, conditional on guarantees in return.
The Commission takes the view that concluding within the time set is not only feasible but is also the only way to improve the ACP/EU relationship in terms of market access and additional financial aid from member states, ready to accompany the Commission. A source close to the Commission states that, in order for the financial offer from member states to increase trade aid to one billion euros per year to be implemented (the Commission alone has pledged to give a further one billion), member states want to know what an EPA is. No country has decided that it can conclude EPAs. The question of alternatives is not raised, but rather that of a transitional scheme in case negotiations are not completed in time. If nothing is foreseen, the developing countries will benefit from the Everything But Arms regime, and ACP States that are not the least developed countries (LDC) can only count on the GSP (generalised system of preferences). Such countries would therefore have a great deal to lose: for West Africa the loss is estimated at one billion in exports, the Commission states, convinced n the light of the WTO panel launched last week by Ecuador against the banana regime that there is no chance of obtaining a new derogation at the WTO for keeping preferences beyond 31 December 2007.
The day before the Joint Ministerial Trade Committee, the Commission will hold two decisive negotiating meetings with East Africa (on 28 February) then with the Pacific region (on the morning of 1 March), after the fashion of recent meetings with Western Africa and Central Africa (EUROPE 9369). The examination will cover: - EU market access for goods and services, rules of origin and measures aimed at overcoming technical trade barriers. On products, Peter Mandelson is expected to give elements of an answer concerning zero duty access without quotas with transitional periods for some products. For services, stock should be taken of the offer put to member states for the Caribbean which “goes much further in the context of Doha and of offers made to other countries”; - and the assessment of the state of progress made in negotiations.
Decisions taken by the ACP Council meeting on 27 and 28 February will be determining for the outcome of the Joint Ministerial Trade Committee. (an)