EU's ex-colonies stand firm in talks on new trade pacts
Afp, Brussels
Poor African, Caribbean and Pacific countries warned the EU on Friday before talks over new trade pacts that they will not sign at any price a deal sweeping away their privileged access to Europe's markets. The 78 mostly former European colonies making up the so-called ACP group and the European Union are struggling to conclude the new agreements by the end of the year, when a current preferential market access accord is due to expire. Amid growing pressure on the EU to take a softer line, the ACP told Europe ahead of the latest round of talks on Friday in Brussels that it could not accept a deal that did not adequately take their concerns into account. "The ACP group expressed its political will to conclude the economic partnership agreement on time, on condition that ACP concerns and interests are addressed," they said in a statement. The European Commission, which negotiates trade deals on its members behalf, is coming under growing fire not only from ACP countries, but also non-governmental organisations and EU lawmakers for driving a bargain to hard to accept. The agreements are supposed to help ACP countries develop while diversifying their economies but at the same time have to allow for some opening of their markets to European goods and services in order to be compliant with WTO rules. Existing trade agreements giving preferential market access to ACP countries have to be replaced by the end of the year because the World Trade Organisation ruled that they were illegal. With the year-end deadline looming ever larger, the EU sought in April to boost the negotiations with an offer to scrap all tariffs and quotas on ACP countries' exports with the exception of sugar and rice. While the offer was mostly well-received, the special treatment of sugar has not gone down well with some ACP countries because it is an vital export for some of them such as the Barbados, the Fiji islands or Mauritius. However, ACP countries are also troubled by the prospect that they would have to open their markets, especially for services, to European companies in order to meet WTO rules. "If (the agreements) are signed because of a WTO deadline rather than because they are good for development, they will fail," said Thomas Deve with the African NGO MWENGO. "If African, Caribbean and Pacific countries are forced to liberalize their trade, and make commitments in other areas like services and investment, millions of poor people could lose their livelihoods," he added. The ACP group has benefited from preferential access to EU markets since the signing of the Lome accord in 1975.
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