Policy recommendations

  • EPAs must ensure that ACP regional groups have maximum flexibility over their own market opening. The EU should therefore offer all ACP regional groups a period of 20 years or more for market opening, on an unconditional basis. Each regional group should be offered this full period.
  • There should be an effective safeguard mechanism for ACP countries to use if faced with a surge of subsidised EU imports.
  • The EU should stimulate regional integration in all ACP regions, according to the communication paper written in August 2008 through Regional Economic Communities and member states, by approaching regions as collective partners.
  • EPAs should be accompanied by additional resources to enable the ACP countries to benefit from trade reforms and build their export competitiveness and the EU should provide financial assistance for this to ACP regions. This assistance must support them in building the infrastructure and economic capacity they need to benefit from trade with the EU and the rest of the world, and put in place the institutions to help manage change and protect vulnerable people, supporting poorer countries with the cost of transition. Developing countries should be given time to build up specific parts of their economy, using subsidies or tariffs.
  • Investment, competition and government procurement should be removed from the negotiations, unless specifically requested by an ACP regional negotiating group. It is for ACP regional groups to judge the development benefits of any agreements on these issues and the EU should not push for them to be discussed. If included, any negotiations on government procurement should be limited to transparency.   
  • A review mechanism for EPAs - with full ACP regional group ownership and participation - should be introduced to ensure they are delivering the intended developmental benefits.  
  • The Commission should be ready to provide an alternative to an EPA at the request of any ACP country. Any alternative offered should provide no worse market access to the EU than is currently enjoyed under Cotonou preferences.
  • In addition, the EU should propose within the WTO that Article XXIV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, should be reviewed as suggested by the Commission for Africa, in order to reduce the requirements for reciprocity and increase the focus on development priorities.

Case: Economic Partnership Agreements

05-08-2009 True impact studies on EPAs: a myth?

When the EU signed the controversial Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Cameroon, as it has with other developing countries, its was claimed by the Commission that many impact studies had been done. Kader Arif (S&D) questions both this claim as studies are hard to find - and the fact that any impact study where available seriously proves the benefits of the agreement.

Monitor fair: S&D