Institutional Prerequisites of Economic Partnership Agreements: The EU-ECOWAS Case

At the end of 2007 the WTO waiver granted for the non-reciprocal EU/ACP trade preferences will phase out. New economic partnership agreements are currently under negotiation, but whether the ACP countries will be able to benefi t from them depends to a large extent on the institutional setting in those countries. The following article takes the example of the Economic Community of West African States to examine the situation more closely.