Forum to chart course for EU’s Lomé rethink

Date: 25/09/1997

By Mark Turner

THE general public will be given a final chance to influence the future of Europe's relations with the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific region next week.

A two-day conference bringing together politicians, trade unions, universities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) will mark the close of the first ever Europe-wide consultations on EU development policy.

Its recommendations, which will aim to reflect months of debate throughout Europe and (to a lesser extent) the ACP region, could be crucial in determining whether the Union continues its trade aid policies or abandons its former colonies to the free market.

At stake is the very future of the underdeveloped South, which in many places depends on Union trade concessions under the Lomé Convention for commodities such as bananas and sugar.

The timing is especially crucial, coming as the EU deliberates on the future of its banana preferences regime, following the recent ruling by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that its system of import licences was discriminatory.

Growing pressure for liberalisation is making the EU's special treatment of its former colonies difficult to sustain.

“With the end of the Cold War and the advent of global markets we have a totally new world order. Our relations with these countries need to reflect new realities,” said a spokesman for Development Commissioner João de Deus Pinheiro.

Next week's conference follows official meetings in all 15 EU member states, seminars in Ghana, the Dominican Republic and the Pacific, and talks in the non-governmental community.

In addition to these formal sessions, which tended towards monologue rather than dialogue, there has also been much lively debate within the development sector itself.

While some doubt how fully the European Commission will incorporate all the resulting suggestions into its proposals, development NGOs have been encouraged by the institution's transparent approach.

“These consultations are a first, and are very exciting. The fact that the Commission has taken the trouble to hold them is in stark contrast to before,” said James Mackie of the NGO Liaison Committee. But he added: “I do wonder, however, how the conference will manage to pull all the different strands together - there are an awful lot of views from all over the world.”

Speakers will include Uganda's celebrated Finance Minister Matthew Rukikaire, former German Foreign Minister Hans Dietrich Genscher and Société Général de Belgique chairman Etienne Davignon. During the meeting, there will be five round-table debates on issues from private sector development to macroeconomic policy.

After the conference, Commission experts aim to draft a first set of political guidelines this winter, and a White Paper on the way forward by early next year.

NGOs are calling for the ACP to be kept as an intact unit, but with more political dialogue, greater involvement by local players and a new emphasis on bottom-up social policy.

“Procedures need to be overhauled, made simpler and more accessible to civil society,” said Mackie.

This was echoed by Simon Stocker from development umbrella group Eurostep, who added: “We hope the new paper will fill in some of the holes from the Green Paper and address social development, gender issues and conflict prevention.”

The NGOs also stress that the convention's trade-aid philosophy must stay in place, if not widened, to protect the world's least developed countries from the ravages of global capitalism.

But while Commission officials in the Directorate- General for development (DGVIII) broadly agree, they will find it difficult to convince supporters of Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan, who argue that only progressive free trade can offer the region a viable future.

The battle between liberalisers and traditional development policy-makers may become even more intense once EU member state governments weigh in.

Other national interests will also make life difficult. Germany wants to keep costs down, Spain wants the convention opened up, France is keen to support its old colonies and the Nordic countries are pushing for an approach which prioritises the alleviation of poverty.

All agree, however, that Lomé is unlikely to survive in its present state.