The End of a ‘Special Relationship’? The New EU–ACP Economic Partnership Agreements

Abstract

The WTO-sanctioned waiver for the extension of the Lomé system of preferences to the African, Caribbean Pacific (ACP) countries expired in December 2007. This deadline coincided with the scheduled conclusion of the EU–ACP Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations, initiated in 2002. The origins of the EU–ACP relationship stretch back to the early days of the European Community, and were formalised in 1975 with the signing of the Georgetown Agreement. However, there has been a notable ‘cooling’ of the relationship since the signing of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement in 2000. For many, the new EPA framework is perceived as a diktat rather than a true partnership agreement. This article reviews the culmination of six years of talks between the two sides and the EU's apparent ‘rationalisation’ of a decades-old partnership.

Notes

The European Unit of Account (EUA), introduced to calculate balances in the European Payments Union (later the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development) in 1950 and pegged at the level of the Dollar, was the forerunner of the European Currency Unit (ECU), itself a forerunner of the Euro.

STABEX was introduced as part of the Lomé I regime and involved compensation for ACP member states if agricultural commodity prices fell below expected levels. SYSMIN, introduced after negotiations leading to Lomé II, performed a similar function for countries exporting minerals. Both these programmes were funded by the European Development Fund. See Jan Orbie's (2007) article in ROAPE 112 for a detailed discussion of the EU's approach to trading commodities with ACP members.

Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland.

Peter Mandelson (2007b) was interviewed by Sarah Montague and Simon Jack on BBC Radio 4 on 31 October 2007 and also contributed, with fellow Commissioner Louis Michel, a piece to the Guardian's (31 October 2007) ‘Comment’ forum entitled ‘This is not a Poker Game: Critics of the EU's Trade Agreements are Gambling with Livelihoods in the Developing World’.