ACP PRESS RELEASES
11
October 2003
6th ACP-EU JOINT PARLIAMENTARY
ASSEMBLY
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1. MEETING OF ACP MEMBERS OF THE JOINT
PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
2.
Opening of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly session in
ACP CO PRESIDENT TAKES STOCK OF HIS TENURE.
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MEETING OF ACP MEMBERS OF THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
Opening
of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly session in
The ACP Members of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary
Assembly meeting in the Auditorium
di Roma under the presidency of Mr. Adrien Houngbedji (Benin) on the
eve of the opening of the 6th session of the JPA examined,
inter alia, the dispute between Zimbabwe and
the European Union, the United Kingdom in particular, and the state
of progress in the activities on the creation of an ACP Parliamentary
Assembly. They finally decided on |
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The Chair of the meeting
of the ACP members of the JPA, namely, ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly
Co-president Adrien Houngbedji,
presented the conclusions of the fact-finding mission of ACP Parliamentarians
which he led to One of the most evident outcomes of the ACP mission was that the After consultations with the President Mugabe
of the Republic of Zimbabwe, the Speaker of Parliament, Mr E.C. Mnangawa, members of the Government, majority and opposition
parliamentarians, private sector and civil-society representatives,
the Union of Black Farmers, and Union of Commercial Farmers (white farmers),
the mission drew the following main conclusions: - the political and
social problems confronting Zimbabwe were, in large measure, the outcome
of the agrarian reforms; - the European Union’s and other founders’
sanctions had had disastrous effects on the general development of the
country, affecting mainly the population itself ;- the Zimbabwe
authorities hoped the JPA would organise a comprehensive debate on the
situation in Zimbabwe and the relations with the United Kingdom, and
adopt an urgent resolution on the issue during its meeting in Rome. The ACP members of the JPA welcomed the outcome
of the mission and said it paved the way for dialogue between the two
parties concerned. Besides the Activities on creation of ACP
Parliamentary Assembly
The ACP Parliamentarians examined the report of the
Working Group on the establishment of an ACP Parliamentary Assembly
which was set up in November last year in The discussions bore on the compatibility of
the prerogatives of an ACP Assembly with those of national and regional
parliaments: -the mechanisms of the ACP States’ ratification of the
agreement creating such an institution; - and the resources to be made
provided it. The ACP members asked the Working Group to pursue its research
in that regard. The Working Group on the creation of the ACP
Assembly is composed of the representatives of This issue, which had in principle been resolved
in Brussels by the joint JPA Bureau on 8 July, became the subject of
discussions further to a request made on 15 July by the delegate of
Eritrea who felt that the resurgence of tension mainly due to that country’s
refusal to respect its commitments in the framework of the Algiers Peace
Agreements, would make it impossible to hold the Joint Assembly there
in good conditions. The meeting of the ACP Members recommended the Bureau’s
proposal, contending that the choice of The choice of the country to host the next session
will be approved by the JPA in Declaration by Cuban delegation The Cuban delegation to the
meeting of the ACP members of the JPA made a declaration to all members
of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in which it considered that,
while withdrawing its request for accession to the Cotonou
agreement owing to what it considered « an attitude adopted by several members of the European Union marked
by interference », it stressed the need to modify the mechanism
for accession which it considered discriminatory owing to the rule of
unanimity within the European Council whereby each member country wields
a veto. » The ACP Parliamentarians
heard the report of the ACP Delegation on the presidential elections
held on The ACP Group tabled a draft
resolution to the JPA « urging
the EU to resume co-operation ties with EPA, Cancun, While reviewing the other
items on the agenda for the JPA session, the meeting of the ACP members
stressed the outcome of the last WTO Ministerial meeting which saw an
affirmation of the solidarity of the ACP States, especially an issue
which appeared as a symbol in Cancun i.e. the resistance of four ACP
West African Cotton producer countries in the face of the imminent danger
that the massive subsidies the very rich countries accord their producers
pose to the economies of these ACP States. The ACP delegates also exchanged
views on the evolution of the ACP-EU EPA negotiations and called on
their European colleagues to support the EPA as a true mechanism geared
towards development. Still on the EPA negotiations,
the ACP Co-President, Adrien Houngbedji, had previously in his statement apprised the
meeting of his participation last August in the meeting organised in
Kenya by the “World Coalition for Africa” on the multilateral trade
negotiations whose main objective was to enable African Ministers of
Trade to review the stage reached in the Doha round of negotiations
and prepare for Cancun. |
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Mr Adrien
Houngbedji, Speaker of the National Assembly
of Benin, whose the mandate is drawing to a close, in his opening statement
at the sixth session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly at the
Auditorium di Roma on Saturday 11 October
2003 took stock of the achievements of the institution which he has
been co-presiding with Mrs Glenys Kinnock
for two years, the mandate of which is drawing to a close. Among the milestones of the
appraisal, he first spoke of the 3rd session of the JPA held
in Another decisive landmark
for
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Finally, Co-President Houngbedji drew attention to the need for greater involvement
of the populations through their parliamentarians in the regional integration
process by taking a cue from the first forum of African parliamentarians
on NEPAD which was attended in conformity with a JPA resolution. For Mr Houngbedji
who was convinced that JPA discussions had gained in amplitude and frankness,
its influence will not cease growing although it still has a lot to
do, especially with regard to its involvement in the multilateral trade
negotiations and those of the EPAs, in order
to ensure that trade is really integrated into the ACP countries’ development
policies. In that regard, he was delighted that several members of the
Assembly had played their role at On the implementation of
the Cotonou Agreement, the ACP Co-President
considered it a must for the Assembly to be involved in the political
consultations under Article 96 raised by the EU to impose sanctions
on the ACP countries so as to ensure that their objective is to result
in solutions fostering the improvement of the situation of the populations. He also pleaded, as far as
global economic and political management was concerned, for the establishment
of an international framework of consultation and dialogue actively
involving parliamentarians. |
Other statements. Case for a fairer trading system
The other personalities who
took the floor at the opening session of the 6th session
of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly were: the Mayor of Rome, Mr |
Mr Walter Veltroni, Mayor of Rome, began by recalling the deportation of over 1000 Roman
Jews at The Mayor of Rome advocated
a strengthening of the co-operation between the poor and rich countries,
especially between Europe and the ACP, which is translated by an economic
partnership for development, the fight against serious infectious diseases,
including AIDS, and the removal of protective barriers. In all world
economic and political fora, it must be acknowledged
that the world consists of rich and poor countries and takes account
of mutual interests. And we must work in all areas, as |
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Mrs Glenys Kinnock, EU Co-president, concentrated her statement on the negotiations of
Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between
the EU and the ACP, and stressed the scant results attained so far.
She recalled the ACP Council of Ministers’ observation on the deep divergence
between the ACP and EU on the first phase of the negotiations, i.e.,
the “All-ACP” phase, and welcomed the ACP’s
will to prevent the EPAs from leading to more serious situations than before.
In that regard she called, on the one hand, for flexibility in their
implementation and, on the other hand, for the injection of some social
security measures for the populations since the effects of the EPAs
on growth will, in any event, be deferred. Mrs. Kinnock drew attention to the need to take
account of the interests of the LDCs and small
economies as well as ACP commodities in the EPAs.
She considered that trade in these commodities was the victim of falling
prices and attacks by the big producer countries. She criticised the
protective barriers erected by the rich countries which paradoxically
claim to defend a balanced and free trade. She also commended the success
of the poor countries, especially those of the ACP Group, whose able
leadership contributed to making Cancun the « emancipation
round of the LDCs ». Finally, she
highlighted the need to work towards peace as a sine qua
non for economic development, and reviewed the positive developments
in the various conflicts in |
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Mr.
Publio FIORI, Deputy Speaker of the House
of Representatives of Italy, for his part, cautioned that aid in itself
does not constitute an objective. Rather, development does. He therefore
prescribed a balance between the developed countries’ exports and ACP
commodities to the EU market. He pointed out that Cancun was a lost
opportunity, and highlighted the correlation between peace, democracy
and development. He also stressed the Italian Parliament’s commitment
to parliamentary co-operation with the ACP, more particularly with African
Parliaments, and called on the ACP to consider |
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