Case: Policy coherence in general

08-03-2010 The Upcoming Joint Parliamentary Assembly in Spain

From the 27th of March to the 1st of April, 2010, the elected representatives of the European Community, the Members of the European Parliament (MEP), and the elected representatives of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states will come together for the 19th Session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) in Tenerife, Spain. Topics like Haiti, southern Sudan, sustainable energy and water, migration, health care (Malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis) and the effects of climate change on ACP economies are on the agenda. Fair Politics hopes MEPs will ask relevant questions about incoherence between the EU policies and development objectives and that the JPA will result in progress toward a more Fair Political relationship between the ACP and EU countries.

At the last JPA from the 30th of November to the 3rd of December, last year, big topics like aids, refugees, climate change and governance were on the agenda. The impact of the financial crisis on ACP countries and the future of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) negotiations were also covered. Fair Politics was happy to see many of the incoherent policies and unfair politics discussed. MEPs like, Eva Joly, David Martin, Kader Arif, Michele Rivasi and Chritsa Klass asked relevant questions to the EU Commission and Council. Joly asked about the illicit financial flows from the developing countries due to tax systems not being transparent and loopholes that let multinational corporations evade taxations, which are undermining development efforts. Another concern was about the access to medicines, as developing countries can commonly not afford them due to the patents on the drugs. Furthermore the EU subsidies in the agricultural sector was also a subject of concern as ACP farmers cannot compete with unfair low EU prices. Finally there was a unease about the future of the EPAs and the regional character they are supposed to have, but have not yet attained due to difficult negotiation rounds. The interim EPAs signed thus far between the EU and separate ACP nation states, have had negative effects on development as can be read in our EPA case study.

Fair Politics anxiously awaits the 19th JPA this March.