The Week in Europe
By David Jessop

It was intended that on June 8 in Suva, Fiji, ministers from Europe and the
ACP would gather to sign the successor arrangement to the Lomé Convention.
The new agreement would have been known as the Suva Convention or Suva
partnership arrangement.  However, recent events in that country have caused
the Fiji Government to withdraw. A new date, location and name have now to
be agreed for the new convention which deals with future political, trade
and aid relations between the European Union (EU) and the 71 African,
Caribbean and Pacific states (ACP).

This inauspicious start for the new arrangement follows closely from other
problems and does not augur well for the rapid or seamless implementation of
a Convention, which is very different in intent from its predecessor. 

On April 25 Cuba withdrew its application to become a signatory as a result
of the probable objections of three member states, the UK, the Netherlands
and Denmark. This was despite Cuba's preparedness to accept, on signing, the
political conditionalities contained in the new Convention.  This and the
circumstances surrounding Fiji's unresolved attempted coup, is not without
irony in view of the new Convention's stress that good governance and
respect for civil society must be prerequisites of a viable relationship
between ACP states and Europe.

During the last two ACP/EU ministerial negotiating Councils, there were a
number of debates on where the new Convention should be signed. Lomé, the
capital of Togo, was ruled out because it did not send the right political
signal any more than that sent by certain other African nations with an
interest in playing host to the new Convention. In the light of this and a
feeling in some parts of the EU that there was a need to signal that this
arrangement was unlike its predecessor, it was agreed that a different
region of the ACP should host the signing and Fiji's offer was accepted.

Presenting an equally worrying perspective has been the problem associated
with the EU achieving a World Trade Organisation (WTO) waiver for the new
Convention's trade provisions. This is necessary if the roll over of
existing preferential arrangements for sugar, bananas and other commodities
and products is to continue. This is especially important as the new
arrangement is in part a transitional trade agreement which aims at
achieving by 2008 a basis for eventual compatibility with WTO rules. This is
in order that in the 12 to 15 years thereafter, the regions of the ACP might
exit from present preferential arrangements and enter into something close
to two-way free trade arrangements with the EU. Unfortunately, to date there
has been no agreement at the WTO that the new partnership arrangement's
trade provisions offer an acceptable way forward for all WTO members.
Non-ACP banana producing nations, the US and some sugar producing nations
have raised questions about the new arrangements and as a result, it is
unlikely that the new Convention will have the legal cover of a new WTO
waiver for some time yet.

Equally as concerning following the successful conclusion of negotiations,
has been the news of EU recommendations that the existing arrangements under
which aid is agreed and disbursed are to be radically overhauled. 

Most of the aid specialists dealing with ACP nations in the European
Commission will be moved to a new agency some time this year and the whole
process of aid delivery changed, possibly delaying the programming process
for new assistance under the ninth European Development Fund (EDF) which
will support the new Convention's provisions. 

Despite these negative developments with the new Convention, it is to be
hoped that once in place, the new provisions will offer practical new
approaches to development. The successor Convention recognises for the first
time that to achieve conditions for stable, democratic development in any
state actors other than Government must be involved. The new partnership
arrangement suggests development be best achieved in conjunction with
non-state actors such as trade unions, the private sector, non-governmental
organisations and others in civil society. As a result, it creates
mechanisms to draw into dialogue and development programmes all such bodies
with the aim of increasing employment and growth. 

It is apparent that the negotiations have brought about a climate in which
those involved in policy in the EC's Development Directorate are already
preparing to work with well organised private sector and other
non-governmental partners. 

The Commission is in a hurry to ensure that the Suva Convention's proposed
reorientation towards the private sector and other such partners be achieved
this year. Unlike previous conventions, the objective is to implement what
has been agreed from the date on which the new partnership agreement is
eventually signed.

To do so, the EC are concentrating in the short-term on delivering support
through new mechanisms already in place. In the longer-term programmes with
civil society will form an important component of national and regional
programmes and it is expected that the next round of discussions for the
ninth EDF will begin in September. This will follow agreement, in the
Caribbean's case, among Heads of Government on priority sectors to be
addressed and a subsequent consultation with the partners concerned. 

What happens on where and when the post Lomé arrangement will be signed,
will be decided on May 29 when the ACP meet in Brussels. Although the first
stages of the post Lomé process has been far from auspicious, from now on it
will be vital that the new Convention is made to work before 2003 when the
next set of negotiations begin. Without this it is hard to see how any
agreement to move to free trade after 2008 can be implemented.

David Jessop is the Executive Editor of the Caribbean Council for Europe.
May 26 



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%