Following the progress of the EPA negotiations has been like living in two parallel universes. On the one hand, there have been many statements from the ACP side that the process lacks the development focus it is supposed to have. The ACP countries insist that they are being put under pressure to negotiate on the Commission’s terms and they are particularly concerned that the Commission has failed to give time for proper impact assessments and has dismissed any assessments that were not in line with its own position. On the other hand, strangely, the Commission has maintained throughout that no one is complaining or asking for alternatives to EPAs.
However, the January 2007 review of EPAs by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa was clear. This external and independent review concluded that there was a failure of the negotiations to have a development focus and an excessive focus on trade liberalisation alone. Given this external UN assessment, I do not see how the Commission can keep on maintaining that the EPA negotiations have a positive dynamic and that everything is rosy.
Fiona Hall MEP
