Policy recommendations

  • All elements that are not required to make the EPAs WTO compatible should be taken out of the EPAs. This requires a review of the current provisions on export taxes, and the MFN and rules of origin clauses.
  • 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. Moreover, the liberalisation scheme should be linked to development benchmarks instead of a fixed timeframe.
  • The EU should cut subsidies on products competing with local products, especially in agriculture. As long as the EU subsidises its sectors, ACP countries should not be asked to liberalise tariffs on products that have to compete with EU products.
  • 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 by approaching regions as collective partners but at the same time acknowledging their differences in economic and social terms. Therefore enough policy space should be provided during the negotiations and no differentiation in terms of EPAs and iEPAs which influence the individual negotiation positions should be pushed for.
  • 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 subject to transparency.
  • A review mechanism for EPAs - with full ACP regional group ownership and participation - should be introduced to ensure the EPAs 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.

Case: Economic Partnership Agreements

06-10-2010 The personal story of Mr. Akorli, a ghanaian poulty farmer

[We visit Mr. Akorli at his house in Tamale, Northern Ghana. I know him through one of our partners that currently support local poultry production.  I explain him the objective of my visit and we start talking. Mr. Akorli is an old but vibrant man. He has just suffered from a stroke, but he clearly talks and explains his story.] 

Mr. Akorli started his poultry business in 1974. He started with breeding of layers to sell eggs as well as broilers. “I used to buy 300 to 400 broilers three times a year from Kumasi or from the Veteriny School in Tamale, I then grew them for 7 to 9 weeks and sold them during Eastern, Christmas and other big festivities. At that time, the industry was very vibrant and I could make a good profit out of it which I invested in new stock. My broiler business helped me to pay the education of my children.”

“I’m a member of the Northern Association of Poultry Farmers, a regional branch of the Ghana National Association of Poultry Farmers. Through this association our inputs such as feeds and drugs are arranged and we can get access to loans from the bank. They also organised the selling, so that each of us could get a benefit. We meet periodically to discuss issues that affect our businesses. But we are no longer very active because of what has happened. Things started to change around 12 years ago, when Ghana started to import frozen chicken wings and legs. These chicken parts are much cheaper. For a whole carton you only paid 15 Ghc, while for one local chicken we pay around 8 Ghc. We, poultry farmers, started to get difficulties in selling our own chicken. People want cheap meat, which they can quickly prepare. But it is much less tastier than our local chicken, which you can kill yourself and prepare.”

 “You know, Ghana is an open market economy, you can bring anything you want on the market. You see these chicken parts everywhere, in restaurants and fast food stores. Once I went out to a popular restaurant to sell my chicken, but they were not interested. So I walked away. Now I have stopped my broiler production, I only sell eggs on a daily basis.” Mr. Akorli points at the place where he used to grow his broilers. It is empty now, apart from a few bags and other stuff. “There is no market for my broilers anymore. Even the feed millers are affected. The broiler industry in Ghana is dead, I know. It is a nationwide issue.”

“I don’t know how this can be dealt with. We have tried everything, we have sent an appeal to the government telling them how this situation affected our business, but we did not get a favorable response. They know, some politicians are poultry growers themselves. But it is all because of the taxes and the trade policy. The government receives taxes, so they cannot stop it. You know, the EU countries dictate other countries: they tell them “We want to buy this from you, but you have to buy this from us”. In your countries your farmers are subsidised. Here we are not, so we cannot compete. You cannot afford to sell your produce for a lower price. That’s the situation right now and I don’t see any bright future. We will continue to be poor.”

Manon Stravens, Accra, 13 July 2010