Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-01-19-Speech-2-154"
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"en.20100119.8.2-154"2
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"Mr President, I appreciate very much the interest that you take in the second revision of the Cotonou Agreement. It is also with great interest that I read the report of the Development Committee, which provides a shrewd analysis on the matters at stake. Throughout the whole process, it is a priority for us to keep Parliament informed, as we have done over the last months.
The negotiations have gained momentum and are now entering into the final phase, and the next joint ambassadorial meeting will prove the value of these discussions. We will be heading for an extraordinary joint ministerial meeting to conclude the negotiations in March, as foreseen by the Cotonou Agreement.
Let me now share with you some observations on the report. Above all, the report has already proven helpful in upholding certain positions of the EU. Just to name some of them: your position on strengthening national ACP parliaments, on the International Criminal Court and on other human rights issues confirmed our negotiation position. Likewise, the importance that you attach to climate change and food security is shared by us and will be reflected in the final outcome.
I would like to focus on four items, starting with the importance of the parliamentary dimension as embodied in the Joint Parliamentary Assembly, to which the report attaches great importance. The Commission is committed to strengthening the parliamentary dimension in the Cotonou Agreement. Therefore, our intention is not to weaken the JPA. On the contrary, the Commission proposal must be seen in the broader context of growing parliamentary oversight functions, in particular, with a view to existing and future Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and EDF programmes. We should ensure maximum synergy between EPA and Cotonou institutions, including between regional JPA meetings and the EPA parliamentary bodies. In this emerging setting, a reduction in plenary JPA meetings would make sense. The Commission accepts, however, that this matter needs to be agreed with those who are most concerned, and is therefore open to reconsidering its position. At the same time, we would be interested to learn more from Parliament how it sees the JPA’s role and functioning in a changing political and institutional environment.
The establishment of EPAs does not only call for the need to ensure synergy between them and the Cotonou institutions, but also requires an update of the Cotonou trade provisions, since the Cotonou trade regime has become obsolete. We have agreed with ACP partners that we will continue the negotiations towards regional European Partnership Agreements. In this context, as Development Commissioner, I would stress that it is neither politically desirable nor legally feasible to incorporate EU unilateral trade regimes such as GSP or GSP+ in Cotonou, as suggested in the draft report, since these depend on autonomous EU schemes. By contrast, the Commission welcomes the call for Cotonou to give more attention to the trade and development issues in general, and to aid for trade in particular.
In your report, you express the concern that the conclusion of EPAs and increased regionalisation might undermine the coherence of the ACP Group. The Commission believes that regional differentiation within the framework of Cotonou is more an opportunity than a threat. Regional integration is crucial for the development of ACP countries and we need to integrate this reality into Cotonou to better support their own efforts towards this objective. This by no means signifies disrupting the ACP Group, and our ACP partners largely share this approach.
Let me now briefly comment on sectoral policies which you are stressing in your report. We fully share the importance of climate change and renewable energies which are already included in the present revision exercise. Likewise, we will address food security in the regional dimension.
You also stress the importance of good governance in tax matters and in the fiscal area. Good governance is a fundamental principle of the Cotonou Agreement. Building on Article 9 of the Cotonou Agreement, the Commission is currently preparing a new policy on good governance in tax matters in the context of development cooperation. We are also seeking to address these aspects in the ongoing revision exercise. Therefore, I can confirm that we share the same objective with you, which is to create fair, effective and growth-enhancing tax systems and effective tax administrations, as well as to strengthen the participation of developing countries in international tax processes.
Finally, I take note that you deplore that the Commission has not consulted a wider variety of actors before launching the revision process – paragraphs 2 and 8 – and I fully agree that, for the future of the ACP-EU relations post-2020, a comprehensive consultation process is needed, possibly in the form of a green paper. We will have to assess the results of the present revision exercise as a basis for this as a form of lessons learnt."@en1
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