Updates: position and comments from EU Governments

Christiane Taubira, the member of the French national assembly who authored the report at the request of her country’s government, has recommended that the mandate given to the European Commission to negotiate economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries should be amended. Although trade officials have been leading the talks on behalf of the 27-strong EU, she advocates that the basis for the negotiations should be rethought so that there is a greater emphasis on social and economic development.

Presented to Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, in mid-June but not yet published, Taubira’s 191-page report contains strong criticisms of efforts made by the Commission to persuade African countries to scrap most of the taxes they levy on imports from Europe. Noting that many ACP countries depend on customs duties for almost 40 percent of their revenues, she argues that the EPAs could render many of the national institutions in Africa ‘‘powerless’’. And while the Commission has presented the EPAs as an opportunity for Africa to increase its exports to Europe, Taubira complains that the high food safety standards applying in the EU ‘‘constitute more effective obstacles than tariffs’’ for farmers and companies wishing to do business with the union.

Her report also suggests that the EPAs could fundamentally alter the political relationship between European countries and their former colonies. Under the Cotonou agreement signed between the EU and ACP states in 2000, the former undertakes to help lift the latter out of poverty. Taubira says, however, that the EU should now state if it has decided to ‘‘abandon development as if it was a dangerous mirage and invite the ACP countries to throw themselves into the big bazaar of free trade’’.

Taubira’s report was commissioned by France in April in preparation for its six-month stint chairing meetings of the EU’s governments, which began on July 1. It follows concerns raised in private by French diplomats to the European Commission over recent months. Although the Commission has been arguing that at least 80 percent of tariffs imposed by ACP countries on European goods should be scrapped, the French officials have recommended that the extent of trade liberalisation sought should be narrower in scope. Other recommendations made by Taubira include that the EU recognises the right of poor countries to feed themselves by allowing them to exclude agricultural goods from trade liberalisation.

She urges, too, that development aid offered by the EU should not be made conditional on the signature of EPAs. The ‘‘new issues’’ of investment, competition policy and public procurement should be removed from the agenda. Many ACP countries had opposed the inclusion of those issues, yet the EU was adamant that they should be covered.
Toubira report
Uk, on the other side side, decided to push strongly at the end of 2007 to define a full EPAs agreement on time. The Trade Minister Gareth Tomah stated at that that time that “The UK has consistently argued that EPAs should bring new benefits to African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries by contributing to regional development, economic growth and poverty reduction. We have continued to provide financial and technical support to the ACP to help them negotiate their side of EPAs”.

And also he wrote that “We want the ACP’s exports to enjoy access to the EU market without facing any duty or quota, and less complicated export rules ( Rules of Origin) from 1st January 2008 when Cotonou arrangements end. We therefore welcome the Commission’s good market access offer which provides duty and quota-free access but wishes to see further improvements in the Rules of Origin”.

Uk last statement