Five good reasons why West Africa should not sign the EPA
The paper aims only at stressing additional or at least renewed reasons why ACPs, and particularly West Africa, should not sign EPAs, so that it will not cover the full list of arguments against them.
The arguments Berthelot presents are:
1) West Africa should liberalize only 42.3% of its imports from the EU given that its 12 LDCs are exempted from tariff reduction;
2) ECOWAS should not reduce its tariffs at lower levels than the EU on basic food staples;
3) ECOWAS cannot sign the EPA before the conclusion of the Doha Round where the issue of agricultural subsidies is a key component;
4) Signing the EPA before the Doha Round completion would reduce much the safeguards measures of ECOWAS;
5) West Africa cannot sign an EPA without knowing the level of its preference erosion on the EU market stemming from the Doha Round and EU bilateral trade agreements.
Author: Jacques Berthelot – Publisher: Solidarité
This web site is produced with the financial assistance of the European Union by Amici dei Popoli NGO in cooperation Cestas, CMO, Hegoa and Risc. The contents of this web site are the sole responsability of Amici dei Popoli NGO and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.