The ACP Group and the EU Development Partnership

The introductory chapter provides an overview of the evolution of the relationship between the 79-member African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) group of states and the 28-strong European Union (EU) since 1975, and situates the book in the wider context of a changing international political and economic order. It also identifies the key issues and challenges that are shaping the contours of the ACP’s current engagement with the EU under the 2000 Cotonou Partnership Agreement, as well as its future prospects, with the end of this 20-year agreement in 2020 drawing nearer. These challenges relate, among other things, to: maintaining and strengthening the internal unity of the ACP group; balancing the shifting priorities and interests of the ACP and the EU; managing the differences in their respective approaches to development; understanding the importance of regional integration to development in the ACP, as well as assessing the impact of the ACP-EU partnership on it; and addressing power asymmetries as obstacles to more genuine partnership and effective development cooperation between the two sides. The chapter further provides summaries of the rest of the chapters in the volume, and in so doing draws out the main themes of the book.

This chapter examines the political history of the partnership between the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) group and the European Union (EU), including the “virtues” of the relationship in the Lomé era (1975–2000) and the dramatic shift to Cotonou (since 2000), as well as the lessons that their shared past provide for taking the partnership forward. Drawing on his wealth of personal experience as a Eurocrat in Brussels between 1973 and 1982, Whiteman identifies the struggles and triumphs of the ACP and the EU since the foundation of their relationship through the 1957 Treaty of Rome, and focuses in particular on what he calls the “spirit of Lomé”—a sense of solidarity, cooperation, and collective action. While acknowledging a need to re-think the ACP-EU relationship against the backdrop of ongoing changes in the global order, Whiteman argues that this relationship remains a more appropriate and relevant framework than regional strategic partnerships for addressing the challenges faced by ACP countries. In his view, these countries, which came together under the “chance circumstances of history”, can do the same once again, given a genuine common interest in overcoming the shared challenge of their future relationship with the EU.

This chapter, by Ghanaian scholar John Akokpari, provides a systematic examination of the European Union’s (EU) relationship with Africa. He argues that while African countries have derived important trade and aid benefits from their partnership with Europe, this has continued to be an asymmetrical relationship that places constraints on Africa’s regional integration and development efforts. Akokpari begins with a brief overview of the continent’s trade and economic relations with Europe during the Lomé period (1975–2000) and under the 2000 Cotonou Partnership Agreement between the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) group and the EU. This is followed by an in-depth assessment of the negotiating processes for Cotonou-mandated economic partnership agreements (EPAs) between the EU and five ACP regional groupings in Africa. Akokpari contends that the EPAs offer relatively few opportunities for African countries to diversify their economies, and as such would be likely to deepen the asymmetrical nature of the EU’s relations with the continent. The chapter also discusses the EU’s development assistance to Africa, as well as its parallel diplomacy with the continent under the 2007 Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) outside the ACP framework.

This chapter, by Jamaican scholar Norman Girvan and St Lucian academic Annita Montoute, recounts the Caribbean story of the development partnership between the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) group and the European Union (EU). They argue that, despite challenges, the Caribbean benefited from the preferential trade regime set up under the Lomé conventions (1975–2000). However, the new economic partnership agreement (EPA), mandated by Cotonou and signed in 2008, between the Forum of the Caribbean Group of ACP States (CARIFORUM) and the EU has marked a dramatic shift in the Caribbean-EU relationship, one that has had a negative impact on the relationship itself, as well as on the Caribbean’s regional integration and development prospects. Girvan and Montoute further contend that the antidote to the EPA lies in the fortification of regional integration processes that could then facilitate a strengthened re-engagement with the EU, and do so in solidarity with the ACP group. The chapter situates this analysis in the context of broader changes in the Caribbean since Lomé, which have witnessed Caribbean states build their own institutions of regional integration and forge closer ties with neighbouring Latin American countries.

This chapter, by Fijian diplomat Kaliopate Tavola, focuses on the Pacific and assesses the lack of momentum in its relations with the European Union (EU), as well as the weaknesses of Pacific regional integration, despite years of European support. The chapter considers both internal and external factors that have constrained the development of Pacific regionalism. Key internal challenges that the Pacific faces include: the vast economic and political disparities between Pacific countries; the dominance of Australia and New Zealand in the region; and a lack of leadership and political will to deepen Pacific regionalism. In this respect, as Tavola contends, the burden of responsibility for the failures of Pacific regional integration lies in large part within the region itself. At the same time, the EU’s support—provided under the framework of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) group—for the Pacific’s region-building efforts, has not met regional expectations, with Europe’s relationship with the Pacific ACP lacking impetus. Tavola argues in favour of deepening Pacific regionalism to achieve development, supported by a re-vitalised EU-Pacific ACP framework and by an economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the EU that takes into account the peculiar features and needs of the Pacific region.

This chapter, by Peter Katjavivi, Namibia’s Speaker of Parliament and former Ambassador to the European Union (EU), provides an African perspective on the Cotonou-mandated economic partnership agreements (EPAs) between the EU and the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) group. In Africa, the EPAs are being negotiated or finalised with five sub-regional formations: West Africa, Central Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa, the East African Community (EAC), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) EPA group. The chapter details African concerns—ranging from those related to technical issues like rules of origin to broader matters such as policy flexibility—in the negotiations, and discusses the negative implications of the agreements for African development and regional integration. Katjavivi argues that the different approaches taken by Africa and the EU to the negotiations, particularly on the development component, have been a major issue. He is further critical of the EPA processes for their failure to take into account challenges related to globalisation, climate change, and poverty eradication. Katjavivi contends that the EPAs seem primarily to be about furthering the EU’s commercial interests in Africa, while contravening Brussels’ stated concern with the promotion of development in the ACP regions and globally.

This chapter, by South Africa’s Xavier Carim, focuses on the anatomy of the negotiating process for an economic partnership agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) EPA group from a South African perspective. The chapter highlights the challenges that arose from the differences in approach taken by the EU and South Africa to the negotiations, as well as the key developments that contributed to the successful conclusion of the process. The SADC-EU EPA process was particularly complicated for three reasons: first, South Africa’s stand-alone 1999 Trade, Development, and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) with Europe and the latter’s insistence on treating the former differently from the rest of the sub-region; second, Southern Africa’s regional arrangements, including SADC but also the Southern African Customs Union (SACU); and third, the 15-member SADC being split across four EPA negotiating groups. Carim argues that South Africa’s participation in the process was driven by a need to ensure that the agreement should serve the sub-region, as well as Africa’s development and region-building agendas. At the same time, the chapter also points to the potential of the agreement—as well as variations across the five African EPAs—to undermine the continental agendas.

This chapter, by Trinidadian scholar Anthony Gonzales, examines the challenges that the Caribbean has faced in implementing its economic partnership agreement (EPA)—signed in 2008—with the European Union (EU), and assesses its impact on the region’s trade and development prospects, as well as regional integration schemes. The chapter also identifies lessons for other members of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) group who are still negotiating or finalising their EPAs with the EU. Gonzales argues that the Caribbean agreement has had some beneficial impacts, despite the slow pace of implementation and the problems that have arisen in the process. Benefits include expansion of some non-traditional agricultural exports; creation of new contacts in the EU market; and an increase in awareness of the need for policy development in new trade-related areas such as competition. Gonzales further urges the Caribbean ACP countries, among other things, to focus on increasing their competitiveness, developing new export sectors, and implementing regional integration schemes, in order to realise fully the EPA’s potential benefits. For the rest of the ACP, the Caribbean experience shows the importance of timely and adequate mobilisation of resources, and of understanding the close-knit relationship between negotiation and implementation.

This chapter, by Nigerian scholar Adekeye Adebajo, focuses on security in relations between Africa and the European Union (EU). He provides a historical account of the security role played by European powers in Africa, highlighting the differences in approach taken by Britain, France, and Germany, and assesses the EU’s evolving present-day military role on the continent. Drawing on case studies of European interventions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Chad, and the Central African Republic (CAR), the chapter questions the effectiveness of the EU’s security operations on the continent. Despite the EU’s increasingly sophisticated security architecture, Adebajo argues that the EU has been more concerned with maintaining its position as a net provider of security globally than with achieving genuine and sustainable peace in Africa. He further argues that the EU could play a more effective security role in Africa by providing support for the strengthening of Africa’s regional bodies; strengthening the peacekeeping capacity of the United Nations (UN) by placing European troops under its umbrella; supporting more effective burden-sharing between the UN and African organisations; and continuing to support efforts to reform and democratise the UN Security Council for greater African representation.

This chapter, by German analyst Anna Knoll, examines migration in the relationship between the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) group and the European Union (EU) in the context of an evolving global debate on the links between migration and development. The chapter outlines the major patterns of global migration, while highlighting those most relevant to the ACP-EU relationship, and examines the differences between the ACP’s and the EU’s perspectives on South-South migration and North-South migration. As the chapter notes, although understanding of the migration-development nexus has increased in both the EU and the ACP, this was not reflected in the 2010 revision of the 2000 Cotonou Partnership Agreement, with tensions continuing between the two sides over migration management and the rights of migrants. Knoll further argues that migration and mobility have brought both opportunities and challenges for the ACP and the EU, and are likely to define future development dynamics in both regions. The EU needs to move beyond security-focused migration and better integrate the development aspects of migration into its relationship with the ACP, while the ACP for its part needs to pay greater attention to inter-regional cooperation for the management of intra-ACP migrant flows.

This chapter, by Trinidadian academic Keith Nurse and Italian scholar Ramona Ruggeri, examines the links between diasporas and development, and the role of diaspora relations in the partnership between the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) group and the European Union (EU). Nurse and Ruggeri argue that, in light of development and demographic challenges faced by the ACP and the EU respectively, both regions stand to benefit from strengthening their dialogue and partnership on migration, diaspora relations, and related issues. The chapter focuses on the economic aspects of ACP-EU diaspora relations in particular, and the authors argue for a strategic approach to addressing the challenges posed by brain drain and labour mobility. The chapter further calls for greater understanding of, and support for, diasporic economic flows, especially with respect to remittances and diasporic trade, which offer innovative avenues to address the development gap in ACP economies and the labour gap in the EU. In this respect, the chapter puts forward the case for less restrictive migration policies, greater respect for migrant rights, and improved data and analyses on migration and diasporic communities.

This chapter, by Guyanese scholar-diplomat Patrick Gomes, Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) group for the period 2015–2020, is concerned with the future perspectives of the ACP group, as well as the prospects of its relationship with the European Union (EU). Gomes argues that the ACP group can build on its past experiences while also forging ahead in a way that takes into account key global trends, as well as their impact on both the EU and the ACP. The chapter examines the evolving global context and its implications for the prospects of the ACP-EU relationship. It also provides a detailed account of the ongoing process of reflection on the ACP’s post-Cotonou future within the group. Gomes argues that this process needs to include consideration not only of the future of the ACP’s relationship with Europe, but also of the ACP group itself. He charts the different perspectives that have been put forward, but at the same time favours strengthening intra-ACP cooperation, and doing so in a way that builds on the ACP’s experiences with Europe and seeks greater engagement with the new and emerging economies of the global South.

This chapter, by Indian scholar Kudrat Virk, focuses on the evolving dynamics of relations between member states of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) group on the one hand, and the emerging economies of the BRICS bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) on the other. The chapter charts the relevance and presence of China, India, and Brazil, in particular, in the ACP regions. Virk acknowledges the opportunities that the rise of the BRICS has brought for African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries, with the new powers in the global South emerging as an alternative source of trade and aid, as well as of knowledge about development, to the European Union (EU). However, she also cautions against an uncritical acceptance of the motivations and interests of the BRICS in pursuing greater engagement with Africa in particular and the ACP more generally. Virk argues in favour of a more balanced and strategic approach by African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries towards the new players—one that uses intra-BRICS competition and rivalry to diversify ACP economies and achieve their development objectives; builds new partnerships without undermining the ACP group’s development cooperation with the EU; and bases itself on lessons of the past.

This concluding chapter returns to the main themes raised by the chapters in the volume and provides a forward-looking analysis aimed at contributing to ongoing processes of reflection in both the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) group and the European Union (EU) on their post-2020 futures, when the 2000 Cotonou Partnership Agreement expires. It acknowledges the enduring political and economic asymmetries that have shaped the ACP-EU relationship since 1975, but also notes the two sides’ shared commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as a basis for renewing their partnership, while moving beyond the traditional North-South debate in the context of a changing global order. In order to do so, as Virk argues, both partners must build on their experiences of the past decades; address the damaging impact of economic partnership agreement (EPA) negotiations on their relationship; and adapt to the strengthening trend of regionalism, all while responding to the rise of new powers in the global South. The chapter further points to a need for the ACP, in particular, to take greater initiative and ownership of the agenda for economic and political cooperation with Europe, and to reconstruct its internal unity around a shared and inclusive development vision.