The future of EU ACP relations

The Lomé Conventions that were in force since 1975 are under review. Till February 2000 a new deal between the single largest group of poor countries (in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific - the ACP) and the EU has to be agreed. The EU provides more than half of world-wide foreign aid through the Commission and bilateral arrangements. For the ACP countries the EU is of special importance as half of their exports go there and their aid dependency is higher than for other developing countries. Furthermore the Lomé Convention is regarded as a model for North-South partnership that includes predictable aid and trade arrangements as well as political dialogue. However, to preserve the Lomé aquis it is necessary to adapt it to the political and economic changes that occurred in the past 25 years. The aim of the conference on «The Future of EU-ACP Relations» that was organised jointly by the Centre for Development Research, the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation and the European Centre for Development Policy Management, was to explore the proposals that were made for reform of trade, investment, aid relationships, and political dialogue. In the book the mandates of the two parties for the current negotiations are discussed by European and ACP researchers and representatives from politics, the civil society, and the private sector. The biggest differences between the EU and ACP position exist in the area of trade relations, where the EU wants to introduce regional economic Partnership agreements (REPA), that are based on free trade areas instead of the current non-reciprocal tariff preferences. With respect to aid allocation there is still disagreement on the performance criteria. One conclusion of the conference was that reforms should go beyond both proposals. The international context of a new WTO round, the EU enlargement etc. in which it is operating has to be taken more into account.