Rebuilding Afro-European Economic Relations
Economic Partnership Agreements, Europe's Last Card in Africa
Apr 21, 2009
The Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) represent the latest stage in the economic relations between Europe and ACP (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific) group of countries. This bloc of countries comprises Europe’s former colonies in the southern hemisphere with Africa constituting a majority. EPAs replaced the preferential trade agreements granted to ACP countries under the Lomé Convention which ended in 2007 due to pressure from the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Aims and Objectives of EPAs
The aims and objectives of EPAs are defined or viewed differently by its admirers and detractors. The admirers paint a very positive image of EPAs while detractors do just the reverse. The German Federal Ministry for Economic cooperation is among the main proponents of EPAs. In one of its regular publications devoted to EPAs, titled Discourse 010 (July 2007), it clearly states their advantages for poor countries.
The first aim according to this document is to link up trade and development policy with the aim of sustainable development. Secondly, to allow ACP countries preferential market access to the EU to be maintained and improved in line with WTO rules, with the aim of duty free and quota free market access.
The third aim according to this document, is to adopt a broad approach and help ACP countries to improve their market prospects by means of capacity building and regional integration. “By forging a close link between trade and development policy … the European Union can make a major contribution to sustainable development,” the document stressed.
Opposition and Resistance to EPAs
Since its inception, EPAs have met with fierce opposition from ACP countries and even within Europe itself. “This strategy also carries detrimental implications for European citizens themselves,” says Dot Keet in his article Economic partnership Agreements (May 2007). Acoording to Keet, the aims of EPAs constitute a threat to “the self determined aims and potential gains from developmental regional integration within ACP countries.”
Resistances to EPAs feed on their detrimental implications on the economies of ACP countries. Among these countless disadvantages include; the unbalanced nature of trade between industrialized Europe and the backward economies of ACP countries, trade deficits, balance of payment problems and continued indebtedness for poor countries and social upheavals resulting from unemployment due to the closure of incompetent industries in ACP countries which cannot stand pressure from Europe’s powerful industries. It is feared this will aggravate the already plaguing problem of HIV/AIDS.
Voices against the EPAs are increasing all over Africa. This constitutes a very bad sign for Europe. Nobel Economics Laureate Joseph Stigitz urged his government in 2008 to “take a cold look” at the EPAs. “EPA does not give sufficient opportunities for business in LDCs to develop to levels where they can compete favorably with their counterparts in the EU and that is critical to the development of a country like Ghana,” he said.
