Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-01-16-Speech-3-251"
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"en.20020116.17.3-251"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, if I might anticipate the result, the Group of the Party of European Socialists can support the Cotonou Agreement with conviction, even though nothing is so good that it cannot be improved still further. The tightly allocated speaking time unfortunately does not permit a comprehensive appreciation of the Agreement, and I am therefore obliged to limit myself to a few aspects of it.
The Cotonou Agreement represents the unbroken continuation of European cooperation with the developing states of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, which began with the Yaoundé Agreement and has since 1975 been expanded by a total of four Lomé Agreements. The parties to Lomé I were just 46 ACP countries and nine Member States of the then European Community. The Cotonou Agreement now joins together 77 ACP States and 15 countries of the EU. Even more important, though, than the geographical expansion is the broader basis with regard to content. The collapse of the blocs and the associated political upheavals across the world, including in the ACP States, meant that the political dimension became more significant, as did trade policy. The treaty comprises such important matters as the safeguarding of human rights and the application of the principles of democracy and the rule of law, responsible governance and the strengthening of civil society, failure to observe which may be met with sanctions.
The political dialogue established by the Cotonou Agreement and the obligation, equally embedded in the Agreement, to work for the consolidation of peace and the prevention and settlement of conflict, along with the declared aim of combating poverty, are important instruments of ACP cooperation, although unfortunately not a guarantee of its success. To demonstrate this, it is enough to refer to Sudan, the Horn of Africa, the Congo, Zimbabwe, Islamic fundamentalism and HIV/AIDS. Parliament's monitoring of ACP cooperation is an example to the world. The Cotonou Agreement has given it a new value, enhancing both its parliamentary character and its role as an open forum for discussion and a monitoring institution. This, too, is part of the new quality of the Cotonou Agreement, and it, too, makes it easy for us, as a Group, to support this Agreement."@en1
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