Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-11-28-Speech-3-130"
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"en.20071128.17.3-130"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, we cannot help noticing that the way in which negotiations were conducted by the Commission has failed to secure signature of genuine EPAs before the scheduled date. Here I agree with Mr Sturdy: the interim agreements call into question the regional groups that had been created and formed the basis of discussions to sign these EPAs.
Far from strengthening links and trust between Europe and ACP states, negotiations have aroused great concern. There is concern in relation to losses of public resources: the Senegalese President recently told the press that between 35% and 70% of African budgets were made up of customs tariffs: Nigeria is set to lose 800 million euros, for instance.
There is concern in relation to the consequences of liberalisation for fragile sectors of ACP economies, which will have to face competition from European businesses. There is concern in relation to the requests to include a number of subjects in the second phase, which do not correspond to WTO obligations. Here I am thinking of services, investment, public markets and the rules of competition. There is concern in relation to the threat of introducing higher customs tariffs in 2008 for non-LDC ACP states as a kind of blackmail forcing them to accept any agreement.
I feel we need to give ACP-EU relations a new lease of life and get negotiations back on the tracks of the main Cotonou principles. EPAs are development instruments. Liberalisation is not an end in itself. The aim of EPAs is to strengthen ACP economies to help them move into the world economy.
No ACP state should be worse off after an EPA than before it was signed. The signatories must benefit from a preference system at least as favourable as before any EPA signature. Agreements must be based on the interests of the ACP states and their economic diversification.
The rules of origin must be clarified to ascertain the extent to which they will benefit from any new market access measures we put forward, and genuine mechanisms for financial compensation must be implemented. The message in the Kigali Declaration by members of parliament in ACP states and in Europe must be understood. The date of 31 December is not as fatal a blow as the one you dealt."@en1
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