Proposal for a Council Decision on the association of the overseas countries and territories with the European Union (‘Overseas Association Decision’)

OCTs have been associated to the European Union since the entry into force in 1958 of the Treaty of Rome. They are islands located in the Atlantic, Antarctic, Arctic, Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Pacific regions. They are not sovereign countries but depend on four Member States of the EU: Denmark, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The association of the OCTs with the Union flows from the constitutional relations that these countries and territories have with the four Member States.

Since the adoption in 2001 of the current Overseas Association Decision, the regional and international environments in which OCTs operate has considerably changed. New political priorities have emerged at European and international level (such as environment, climate change, sustainable management of natural resources) as well as changes in global trade patterns. With the Europe 2020 Agenda, the European Commission proposed a strategy articulated around three priorities: smart growth, sustainable growth and inclusive growth as a response to the economic and financial crisis.

The main challenge that OCTs face consists in putting their economies and societies on a sustainable development path by increasing their competitiveness, reducing their vulnerability, increasing environmental resilience, and cooperating with their neighbours and integrating in the regional and/or world economies, where this is possible. For the Union, the challenge resides in supporting the OCTs with the accomplishment of these goals and of the purpose of the association as defined in Article 198 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union, via a framework that is adapted to OCT needs, realities, particularities and diversity.

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)362: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:362:FIN

European Commission: SWD(2012)193: Summary of the impact assessment http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=SWD:2012:0193:FIN:EN:PDF

European Commission: SWD(2012)194: Impact assessment http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=SWD:2012:0194:FIN:EN:PDF

European Parliament: Note: Initial appraisal of a European Commission Impact Assessment Association of Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) with the European Union http://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/studiesdownload.html?languageDocument=EN&file=78415

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