Georgetown - the foundation of the ACP group
Signed in 1975, the Georgetown Agreement is the foundation of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group. Over the years its membership has swelled to 79 nations. The agreement was revised in 2003 to bring in aspects of the new ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, under the Cotonou Agreement signed in Benin in 2000. All 79 ACP members, except Cuba, are signatories to Cotonou.
Signed in 1975, the Georgetown Agreement is the foundation of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group.
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The Georgetown Agreement defines the objectives of the ACP Group, its institutions and decision-making process. The ACP Group has its own internal decision-making process and its joint bodies also interplay with EU institutions to take decisions affecting all 79 ACP and 27 EU Member States of the partnership.
The ACP grouping currently numbers 48 sub-Saharan African countries, 16 from the Caribbean and 15 from the Pacific (see article "The ACP-EU Agreements"). The objectives of the amended Georgetown Agreement are the eradication of poverty, sustainable development of its members, their gradual integration into the world economy, peace and stability in a free and democratic society, and greater ACP integration overall through cementing economic, political, social and cultural ties.
A summit of Heads of State of the 79 ACP countries tops the decision-making pyramid but since its meetings are infrequent, the last taking place in Mozambique in June 2004, decisions are often in the hands of the ACP Council of Ministers. This ordinarily meets twice a year but special sessions gathering a limited number of ministers on a particular topic assemble when necessary. For example, at the end of 2007, there were frequent meetings of ACP ministers responsible for sugar in the wake of the EU’s denouncing of the Sugar Protocol.
A bureau of the Council of Ministers, consisting of ministers from each of the four African regions, the Caribbean and the Pacific, and the rotating President of the Council and outgoing and incoming Presidents, looks after the Council of Ministers’ agenda (see separate article on the activities of all ACP-EU institutions).
ACP Secretariat
ACP ministers take major policy decisions and elect every five years a Brussels-based secretary general, currently Sir John Kaputin from Papua New Guinea, who guides the work of the Brussels-based ACP Secretariat comprised of nationals from the ACP States. These are technical experts and administrative staff who work in all areas of the ACP-EU partnership from commodities to culture.
The ACP Committee of Ambassadors of Brussels-based diplomatic staff from each ACP state sets an agenda and backs up the work of the Council. It works closely with the ACP Council and can take decisions and resolutions by a consensus of its members.
It reports on its activities to the ACP Council and it too has a coordinating bureau at Ambassador level, of the same nine-country composition as the Council’s bureau.
The ACP States interact with other EU bodies in reaching joint decisions (see separate article on the institutions).The EU’s 27 Member States have their own tiered structure with heads of state at the top. They meet infrequently with their ACP counterparts: the last one took place with African countries in Lisbon in 2007 to inject political impetus into Africa-EU links.
Day-to-day policies and strategies are drawn up by the EU Commissioner for Development, currently Belgian Louis Michel, and the EU Directorate for Development and relations with ACP States, headed by Italian Director-General, Stefano Manservisi. Brussels-based Europeaid set up in 2001 and led by Dutch Director General, Koos Richelle, deals with the technical management of projects.
The EU’s Council of Ministers of Foreign Ministers approves EU strategies towards the ACP States whereas joint decisions can be taken at meetings of ACP and EU Ministers (see separate article on ACP-EU institutions).
A Parliamentary Assembly of ACP Members of Parliament meets a statutory twice a year prior to its biannual meetings with 79 members of the European Parliament who represent the 27 EU Member States. These gatherings, known as the Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA), generally take place once every six months rotating between ACP and EU states.
The ACP-EU Joint Assembly does not take binding decisions but issues opinions on EU strategies towards ACP nations and its debates on policies in ACP nations are often timely and always lively. Other EU and ACP institutions often take the lead from the JPA’s own initiative reports, which are full of very useful factual research, often drafted jointly by an ACP parliamentarian and an EU counterpart. Exchanges with attending senior EU officials are frank and there is much media interest in the gatherings.
