Economic Partnership Agreements

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 March 2011

Wednesday, 23 March 2011

Questions (43, 44)

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (Deputy Jan O’Sullivan)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 43 and 44 together.

Since 2002, the EU has been negotiating a series of new trade and development agreements with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of States. The negotiations for these Economic Partnership Agreements are being carried out by the European Commission, on behalf of the European Community and the Member States. They were necessitated by rulings by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that the unilateral trade preferences which the EU had previously granted to the ACP countries established unfair discrimination between developing countries.

The original aim had been to conclude comprehensive Agreements with six regional groupings of the ACP States by the end of 2007, the deadline set by the WTO. However, following a process of protracted and difficult negotiation, only one of the ACP regional groups, representing Caribbean States, was ready to initial an Economic Partnership Agreement by that date. In order to avoid trade disruption, interim Agreements were agreed and initialled at the end of 2007 with 21 other ACP States, either individually or in regional groupings. These interim Agreements provide for full duty and quota-free access to the European Union market but allow the ACP countries a flexible and asymmetric trade liberalisation schedule.

In recent years, there have been well-founded concerns that momentum in the negotiations was being lost, and that there was a need to revitalise the original shared commitment to the achievement of strong Agreements which serve the development needs of the ACP countries, promoting economic growth and regional integration. In light of these concerns, a positive development at the EU-Africa Summit last November was the commitment by political leaders from both sides "to conclude Economic Partnership Agreements that support socio-economic development, regional integration and the integration of Africa into the global economy". There was a clear commitment also from EU leaders to show flexibility in addressing concerns raised by African countries in the negotiations.

The Deputy refers to concerns which several Non-Governmental Organisations have raised in the context of the negotiations regarding the danger of an increase in cheap imports to African countries. These concerns have been raised with the Commission, and discussed among the EU Member States. Under the terms of the interim Agreements, ACP countries are permitted to exclude a wide range of sensitive goods and sectors from any trade liberalisation. In practice, these exclusions have covered agricultural products considered key to food security and the income of rural communities, products from industries considered vulnerable and, in some cases, products where import duties provide essential state revenues. Safeguard clauses in the Agreements provide an additional safety net, allowing countries to take measures to protect infant industries, food security and rural development or any other production sector in the event of a threat of market disruption by imports.

I will follow these negotiations closely in order to ensure that they reflect the commitment made at the EU-Africa Summit. I believe it is essential that Agreements reached strongly support the development needs of the ACP countries and specifically their programmes to reduce poverty. I am very aware of the concerns that have been raised in the past by African countries and by NGOs, and I will want to work with our partners to ensure that the EU's negotiating approach allows for the application of all the trade flexibility permissible under WTO law. The negotiations being led by the European Commission must serve to strengthen the EU's partnership with the ACP States, and I will work with our partners, in the EU and in Africa, to this end.