1.Meeting of ACP members of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly

(Brussels, 27 October 2001)

The preparatory meeting of ACP members of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly for the 3^rd JPA session was held at ACP House in Brussels, on Saturday 27 October 2001. 

Among the important items on the agenda were statements by Mr. Serge Clair, the ACP Co-President. He gave a report on two joint ACP-EU parliamentary missions carried out after the 2^nd JPA session. The first mission to Cuba in April 2001 was conducted by the two Co-Presidents, Messrs. Clair and Corrie, who attended the Conference of the Inter-parliamentary Union in which 

the JPA has observer status. The second mission was conducted to Sudan from 26 June to 2 July 2001 by Mrs. Glenys Kinnock (PES - UK), Mr. Mario Mauro (PPE-DE - Italy) and Mr. David Sitai (Solomon Islands). 

Fact-finding mission to Sudan

The delegation from Sudan which is participating in the 3^rd session of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly regretted that the mission report did not highlight that country's efforts to meet its human rights obligations and the progress achieved in recent months. The delegation refuted allegations according to which sections of the population had been chased from their regions because those areas contained oil reserves. 

Ratification of the Cotonou Agreement

To date, thirty-two (32) ACP countries and one EU country, Denmark, have ratified the Cotonou Agreement. ACP members of the JPA appealed to ACP countries to expedite the ratification process and expressed concern at the delay on the EU side. 

New Bureau of ACP members of the JPA.

A new Bureau of ACP members of the JPA comprising twelve (12) members, two per region, was elected, and will assume its functions in January 2002. It is headed by Mr. Adrien HOUNGBEDJI, President of the National Assembly of Benin. 

Sensitive issues facing the 3^rd session of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly

Accreditation of non-parliamentarians 

Until now, the accreditation of non-parliametarians representing ACP countries has been a formality. However, the draft report raised even more problems on this issue. One of them concerns the right to vote of a non-parliamentarian who is representing a Parliamentarian when the latter is unable to attend due to extenuating circumstances. ACP Parliamentarians refuse all restrictions to the rights of such an individual (another parliamentarian or a government official) who is duly mandated by an ACP Parliamentarian.

Issues concerning the situation in some countries

Several ACP Parliamentarians pointed out that the list of ACP countries featured in motions for resolutions is getting longer with each JPA session, and includes all the ACP regions. They called for moderation on the part of their European colleagues and asked them to avoid anything which might ressemble a permanent tribunal for their countries. 

Ethiopia's delegate noted that this year, the motions for resolutions concerned 40% of ACP countries although there has been considerable development of the democratic process in these countries over the last years. He received unanimous support for his suggestion to propose to the plenary session that a motion for resolution should be supported by the conclusions of a joint mission.

2. Adrien HOUNGBEDJI, Speaker of the National Assembly of Benin, elected Co-President of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

Members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, meeting this Saturday 27 October 2001 to prepare the 3rd session of the Assembly scheduled for 29 October to 1 November, have unanimously appointed Mr Adrien HOUNGBEDJI as the new Co-President of the JPA. He will take office in January 2002, as successor to Mr Louis Serge CLAIR of Mauritius who has completed his two-year tenure.

Mr. Adrien HOUNGBEDJI is the Speaker of the National Assembly of Benin. His candidature was presented by the West African region, to which he belongs, by virtue of the system of rotation for the main posts of the ACP Group whereby a candidate is presented for approval by the Parliamentarians of the Group. The appointment of the Speaker of a National Assembly to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly demonstrates the increasingimportance the ACP Group attaches to this institution which was established in the framework of the AC-EU Partnership Agreement of Cotonou in replacement of the former ACP-EU Joint Assembly.

The new ACP President of the JPA had a long career as jurist-lawyer, Attorney-General and Magistrate of the Cotonou Court of bankruptcy before beginning his political career in 1991 as a member of Parliament. No sooner had he been elected than he acceded to the post of Speaker of the National Assembly where he remained for four years during which period he also carried out the function of Vice president of the ACP-EEC Joint Assembly responsible for Human Rights. This was followedby another as Vice President of the International Assembly of French-speaking Parliamentarians ( AIPLF) before he became, for almost three years, Prime Minister responsible for the coordination of government action and Relations with Institutions. During the last two years of his tenure, he combined the roles of Head of Government and Government Spokesman. Since April 1999, Mr Houngbedji has returned to head the National Assembly of his country.

 

3.         Address by Serge Claire, ACP Co-president at formal opening session

In his address at the formal  opening session, the ACP Co-President started by hailing the dynamism of the Belgian presidency of the European Union which had devoted special attention to development issues and was striving relentlessly to ensure that they are given pride of place in the Union's programme of activities. This interest of the Belgian presidency, sybolized by the presence of King Albert II, testifies to the importance attached to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

Mr Serge Clair, whose two-year tenure expires at the end of this year, recalled the long path the Assemnbly had trod  since the 29th session of the Joint Assembly in the Bahamas where the negotiations for the future agreement remained deadlocked on several issues. During the session and after, the Assembly assisted tremendously in moving the negotiations forward, and could  therefore take pride, rightly, in having contributed to their success and to the signing of the Cotonou Agreement.

Mr Claire also expressed the Joint Assembly's satisfaction at the accession of six new members from the Pacific. He stressed the intensive activities carried out by the Joint Assembly in order to find a solution to certain internal or other inter-ACP conflicts by organizing several debates, despatching missions to those countries, and adopting important resolutions. These measures were always crowned with success.

The ACP Co-president also referred to cooperation between the JPA and other institutions, which has been considerably strengthened. He cited the observer status accorded UEMOA's interparliamentary Committee, ECOWAS Parliament, the African Parliamentary Union (UPA), and the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT). He also said that last April, the Assembly accorded  observer status to the Interparliamentary Union in Havana. Cooperation with ACP economic and  social circles, he stated, has been enlarged to civil society representatives.

 Concluding this assessment,  Mr Claire referred to the new rules of procedure enshrining the parliamentary nature of the JPA which, he hoped, would be adopted during the present  session.

While laying stress on this very positive assessment, Mr Claire was equally aware of the future challenges facing the Assembly, especially the responsibility of the Parliamentarians in speeding up the ratification of the Cotonou Agreement to ensure early implementation. He also referred to the role the Assembly will have to play in the forthcoming ACP-EU trade negotiations, its involvement in the political consultations between the ACP and EU, and the role of Parliamentarians in global economic and political decision-making,  an issue that was the theme of a seminar of ACP Parliamentarians held the day before the session.

He expressed delight at the fact that globalization  had been included in the week's programme.

To highlight the importance of the patient consultations that must accompany any constitutional reform, Mr Claire cited the example of his own country, Mauritius, which took inspiration from examples of decentralizartion in some ACP and EU  countries like Belgium, to accord wide autonomy to the island of Rodrigues from which he hails.

4. Speech of H.R.H. Prince Ulukalala Lavaka Ata,President of the ACP Council of Ministers.

H.R.H. Prince Ulukalala Lavaka Ata (Tonga) addressed the 3^rd session of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly in his capacity as President-in-Office of the ACP Council of Ministers. In his address, he indicated that the JPA had a vital and continued role to play in ensuring that the objectives of the Cotonou Agreement are reached.

The Prince addressed issues of general nature such as migration and the HIV/AIDS epidemic which are of major concern to ACP countries before moving on to specific issues requiring the undivided attention of the ACP.

Implementation of the Cotonou Agreement 

The President of the ACP Council underscored the effective and timely implementation of the provisions of the Cotonou Agreement. He indicated that although the European Commission set an average target of between 3 to 3.5 billion Euros annually for the support of the ACP-EU cooperation over the next 7 years, the latest figures released indicated a huge gap between the set targets and actual commitments. He expressed the hope that the meeting of the National and Regional Authorising Officers with the Commission and the EIB scheduled for early December 2001 will contribute to finding genuine solutions to some of these difficulties.

The Prince Ulukalala Lavaka Ataalso took this opportunity to voice the concern of the ACP regarding the decision by the Commission to close offices and downgrade delegations in seven ACP Member States which he qualified as regrettable as it sends out mixed signals to the ACP about the EU’s genuine commitment to ACP-EU Cooperation.

Trade

Concerning the beginning of negotiations for the new trading arrangements between the EU and the ACP in September 2002, He urged that resources be made available to allow the support programme of activities to be implemented in a timely and effective manner. He indicated that it was vital to empower ACP countries to participate fully and actively in international trade and to benefit from the opportunities offered by globalisation and trade liberalisation. He further indicated that it was necessary for the ACP Group to first finalise consultations on the geographical configuration before taking any decision on the negotiating mandate.

WTO request

HRH Ulukalala Lavaka Ata called on the determination and support of the JPA to ensure that the issue of the WTO request is resolved to the satisfaction of the ACP. 

Political Dialogue

He suggested that the JPA seriously consider the issues of political dialogue and conflict prevention as topics for ongoing discussion by one of the standing committees. He expressed the view that the prevention of conflicts at an early stage through the establishment of relevant mechanisms was essential and should be regarded as top priority. He encouraged the JPA to actively consider getting involved in exchanges of views and consultations as envisagedunder Articles 8, 11, 96 and 97 of the Cotonou Agreement.

3^rd UN Conference on LDCs

Referring to the 3^rd United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries which took place in Brussels in May 2001, the Prince Ulukalala Lavaka Ata noted with satisfaction the follow-up on one of the conclusions of the Conference which consisted in setting aside resources to assist Highly Indebted Poor Countries that are also the LDCs.

Civil Society Involvement in ACP-EU Cooperation

On the above issue, the President of the µACP Council of Ministers stressed that the real challenge was to find creative and constructive ways for governments and civil society to work together for the benefit of ACP populations. He drew attention to the need for civil society to ensure that its activities at the national level are complementary and mutually reinforcing to those identified by governments for development. He made it absolutely clear that the state remains the final authority in determining their development policies in all sovereignty.