Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-02-16-Speech-3-238"
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"en.20000216.13.3-238"2
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"Mr President, I congratulate Mr Corrie on his report. The Lomé Convention has been an expression of a real partnership between the EU and the ACP countries for over 25 years. That it has continued at all in the face of overwhelming pressure against it from many quarters, including the WTO, is a triumph of sorts. But of course the new Convention must be measured not by the fact that it exists but by the extent to which it can contribute to the EU commitment to poverty eradication and the achievement of the international development targets. Measured by this yardstick there are a number of serious shortcomings in the new arrangements. For example, the agreement is particularly disappointing for those ACP countries suffering from short-term fluctuations in export earnings.
During a marathon negotiating session in December a compromise was reached which provided that, in respect of least-developed, landlocked and island states, assistance would be provided in the event of a minimum 2% loss of export earnings rather than the level of 10% for the other ACP states. But at the final negotiating session the EU claimed that it had never actually agreed to the inclusion of islands and landlocked states among those which would qualify for the support on the basis of the 2% threshold.
This change has been devastating for the Windward Islands in particular which may be the only ACP state which will actually lose massively from the new arrangements. This seems a particularly perverse outcome since the Windward Islands are one of the smallest and most vulnerable of the ACP states and they are now going to have to pay the highest price for this new Lomé arrangement.
Meanwhile, on the trade side, pressure from the WTO to ensure that any Lomé Convention is WTO-compatible has meant that there is a huge momentum behind the idea of the so-called regional economic partnership arrangements or free-trade agreements. Non-least-developed countries are likely to face considerable pressure to accept these arrangements. Yet it is quite clear that even after a transitional period a number of countries will simply be unable to open their markets yet to the chill winds of free trade without wrecking their own domestic economy. We therefore need to be particularly vigilant to ensure that genuine options are open to those countries which are not yet ready for free-trade arrangements. We need to ensure that strategies for promoting regional integration within the ACP are pursued in their own right.
Finally, during any new trade round the EU and the ACP states should press jointly for a reform of GATT Article 24 in order to explicitly provide regional non-reciprocal trade agreements between structurally and economically dissimilar groups of countries.
The Lomé Convention is a unique partnership; but if it is to be truly effective it needs to extend beyond the discussions within the context of Lomé and involve a participation of the WTO and a partnership in all other international negotiating fora."@en1
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