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OACPS-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly

About History

History

Togo-Presse informs about the first Convention of Lomé on 27.02.1975 - Trade and aid agreement between the ACP countries and EU © European Communities (1975) - European Parliament

History of OACPS - EU relations

1957: Treaty of Rome

The origins of the formal relationship between the EU and the African, Caribbean, and
Pacific regions go back to the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC) by the
1957 Treaty of Rome. In particular, Part IV of the treaty envisaged an association of the
overseas territories of Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Italy. The vast majority of
these overseas territories were in Africa, with 15 administered by France, two by Belgium
and one by Italy.

1963: Yaoundé Convention

As decolonisation accelerated in Africa from 1960 onwards, European powers sought to

preserve their economic ties with almost all associated states. In 1963, the Yaoundé
Convention was signed with 18 newly independent African countries, together known as the
Associated African States and Madagascar (AASM).

While all six EEC countries signed the Yaoundé Agreement, this trade and aid agreement
was driven primarily by France, which had insisted on accommodating overseas territories
in the Rome Treaty in the first place, though Belgium was also a strong advocate of this.

1969: Renegotiation of the Yaoundé Convention (Yaoundé II)

Togo-Presse informs about the first Convention of Lomé on 27.02.1975 - Trade and aid agreement between
the ACP countries and EU © European Communities (1975) - European Parliament
For the then newly established EEC, the building of new structures was part of the
European experiment. The European Development Fund (EDF) was launched in 1959, and the creation of a system for the EDF in Africa was left to a powerful former French colonial
official, Jacques Ferrandi, who directed the fund from 1960 to 1975. Ferrandi established a network of delegations in Africa - based essentially on French administrative practices - that
was built to survive. The trade arrangements of the 1963 Yaoundé Convention (renegotiated in 1969 as Yaoundé II) created a free trade area founded on the principle of reciprocity.

1975: Lomé Convention

The formal relationship between the ACP group of states and the EU dates back to the signature of the first Lomé Convention in February 1975 - and revised or upgraded four times since
then. The signatories at the time were the nine EEC Member States - now the EU - and 46 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

1975: Georgetown Agreement

The ACP group was officially established by the Georgetown agreement later in 1975, although its Members had been negotiating since 1973.

There were many innovations in the first Lomé Convention, including STABEX (Système de Stabilisation des Recettes d'Exportation - Export Earnings Stabilisation System) - a scheme
created in response to developing country complaints of deterioration in their terms of trade, and which was especially valuable for countries dependent on the export of one or two
agricultural commodities. This was later complemented by SYSMIN - a similar scheme for mineral raw materials. The Convention's chapters on regional cooperation and industrial
cooperation were also innovative. For example, although the Convention excluded Asia and Latin America, it was put forward as a model of the 'New International Economic Order', which
had been promoted in the wake of the 1973 oil price crisis. Lomé I was also promoted as a legally binding contract between equals (in the same way as Yaoundé had been), and as an
example of the fashionable idea of global interdependence.

The Convention was proclaimed as politically neutral, which permitted it to be opened up to Marxist countries such as Ethiopia, Angola and Mozambique, as well as liberal capitalist
economies like Côte d'Ivoire and Kenya.
The Lomé negotiations initially received support from the Coordinating Secretariat of the AASM, which had been set up under Yaoundé. However, after Georgetown, an ACP Secretariat
OACPS-EU
was established in Brussels and became operational by 1976. Initially funded by Joint
the ACPParliamentary Assembly
Member States themselves, the secretariat soon found that arrears from some countries meant
that a request for at least 50 per cent of its budget from the EDF was needed.

2000: Cotonou Agreement

Probably the most radical change introduced by the subsequent Cotonou agreement (2000) concerns trade cooperation. Since the Lomé Convention, the EU has granted non-reciprocal
trade preferences to ACP countries. Under the Cotonou Agreement, however, this system was replaced by the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), a new scheme that took effect
in 2008. This new arrangement provides for reciprocal trade agreements, meaning not only that the EU provides duty-free access to its markets for ACP exports, but that ACP countries
also provide duty-free access to their own markets for EU exports.

True to the Cotonou principle of differentiation, however, not all ACP countries were obliged to open their markets to EU products after 2008. The group of least developed countries is
able to either continue cooperation under the arrangements made in Lomé or the 'Everything But Arms' Regulation.

The Cotonou Agreement was due to expire in February 2020, but was prolonged at least until November 2021, in order to make all the necessary arrangements for the successor
agreement.

In April 2020, the ACP Group of States became the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS).

2023: Samoa Agreement

After over two years of negotiations, a renewed partnership agreement was initially drafted in April 2021. Two additional years of drafting followed, and the agreement was signed on the
15th of November of 2023 in Samoa.

The Samoa Agreement (2023) is based on six key priorities: human rights, democracy and governance; peace and security; human and social development; inclusive, sustainable
economic growth and development; environmental sustainability and climate change; and migration and mobility. The EU and the OACPS agreed on the principle of a common foundation
- the Joint-Parliamentary Assembly - complemented by three regional assemblies (for African, Caribbean, and Pacific OACPS members respectively). The provisional application of the
agreement started in January 2024 and the constitutive meetings of the assemblies and bureaus took place on February of 2024 in Luanda, Angola.

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