The European Union (EU) has launched a first-ever public debate on the future of the Lomé Convention, a trade and aid treaty signed with 70 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. EU development officials are hoping that the unprecedented public discussion of EU-ACP relations will not only re-energize the 22-year-old Convention, but also give fresh impetus to Europe's development and aid policies in the new millennium.
"Development has to be put back on the front page," said Mr. João de Deus Pinheiro, the EU Commissioner responsible for development policy. Mr. Pinheiro's plan is to involve the 15 EU governments, the European Parliament and the 15 national assemblies, along with non-governmental organizations, academics and business leaders in a free-wheeling "public reflection" on the best way forward.
Modernizing the Convention
The key issue is how the Convention – initially negotiated in the 1970s by six EU nations and some 40 ACP states – can be modernized and updated. In a so-called "Green Paper" on Lomé that he drew up last year, Commissioner Pinheiro said he favoured the continuation of an "institution that we cherish," but that different options, including the Convention's replacement by regional or bilateral accords signed by the EU with ACP regions or individual countries, must be considered. The EU and the ACP states must have the "courage to question everything," Mr. Pinheiro wrote. "There must be no taboos."
Putting that principle into practice, the European Commission is organizing a series of seminars and conferences on EU-ACP relations in all 15 EU capitals to discuss the future of the pact. European delegations in ACP countries are also conducting discussions with local non-governmental organizations, academics and business leaders.
ACP governments, meanwhile, are conducting their own internal and regional debate on the future of the Convention. The plan is to organize a special ACP summit on the issue in Gabon in November. "Getting 70 governments to coordinate their position isn't as easy as it is for the 15 EU governments," said an African diplomat. "But we're determined to do our best."
The latest Lomé pact, signed in Mauritius in December 1995, will run until the end of 1999. But given the slow and complicated process of EU decision-making, the European Commission has already started preparing for negotiations. Mr. Pinheiro hopes to make proposals which will be discussed by EU governments for 10-12 months. A final, EU-wide negotiating position, which will be presented to the ACP group by Mr. Pinheiro, will only be ready in September or October 1998.
The backdrop for the EU debate is not as favourable as the Commission's development experts would like. EU discussions in 1995 on financial aid for the ACP states showed that most European governments – with the notable exception of France – are losing interest in the Convention.
Germany and the Netherlands, major contributors to previous agreements, barely maintained their share of the European Development Fund in the new agreement. The UK showed a clear preference for its bilateral aid programmes rather than the multilateral Convention. EU newcomers Sweden, Austria and Finland made it clear that they did not like a pact which focused essentially on the needs of former French and British colonies.
The 15 governments did finally agree to raise the Lomé fund by 20 per cent to $16.6 bn for the five-year period ending in 1999. But the increase barely keeps pace with inflation in ACP states, and the fear in Brussels is that EU governments may be even less generous this time around. Germany, for one, wants the EU's priority attention to include Eastern and Central European states. Also, with the introduction of the single European currency in 1999, EU governments are in no mood to increase their budgetary expenditure.
Through the public debates, EU development experts are looking for new ways to make development issues "relevant" again. "We have to talk about issues like negative interdependence," said an EU official, warning that failure to help developing countries will result in an increase in immigration, environmental problems and the growth of religious extremism. Others argue that the EU should emphasize "enlightened self-interest," since increased prosperity in the developing countries will expand markets for goods and services from Europe.
As regards the Convention itself, the key question is whether the treaty should be split up into smaller agreements linking the EU to separate regions within the ACP group. "It's obvious that the 70 countries in the ACP group have very different needs and priorities because they are at different levels of development," said an EU official. One option being studied is a separate agreement between the EU and the least-developed ACP states. Another is that while the Convention could survive as an "umbrella" treaty, it would have to be backed up by smaller region-to-region pacts.
Increasing the private sector's role
Next time around, the EU also wants to put the focus on increasing the private sector's role in ACP countries. While the current accord gives ACP governments a central role in development, Commissioner Pinheiro insists that the next treaty must look at investment promotion, help for ACP privatization plans and mobilization of private capital for infrastructure projects, especially in the telecommunications sector.
Trade issues will probably not take up much space in the new treaty. The Uruguay Round trade liberalization package of 1995 means that tariff reductions the EU once reserved for ACP states will now also be extended to other least-developed countries. In any case, the World Trade Organization is not likely to accept the Lomé trade preferences beyond the year 2000, when its current waiver for Lomé runs out.
But ways of making EU aid more effective will get top billing in the new pact, EU officials said. Mr. Pinheiro is stepping up coordination with the World Bank and the UN agencies, but also said that the 15 EU countries should try to make their bilateral aid programmes in Africa more compatible with the Convention. At a time when aid budgets worldwide are under pressure, EU officials said that efficiency and better coordination among donors must be a priority.