Setting the standard for development
The special partnership – dating from November 2007 – with Cape Verde sets the standard for the way forward for every signatory of the Cotonou Agreement keen to strengthen its cooperation with the European Union, states Josep Coll i Carbo, head of the European Union Delegation in Praia.
São Vicente Island seen from Santo Antão.
© Marie-Martine Buckens
“The partnership”, Coll i Carbo explained, “was set up at the request of Cape Verde in the belief that the Cotonou Agreement could be further developed. Cape Verde sought to link up with the closest, most prosperous and most culturally familiar area of stability, the European Union. The EU was not the only organism to respond positively to this initiative, and member states have also shown commitment to the initiative, although for historical reasons Portugal, Spain, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Austria have shown the greatest involvement” (primarily due to the large numbers of Cape Verdeans living in these nations, Editor's note).
What is the added value of such a partnership in addition to the Cotonou Agreement, which brings together ACP countries and the European Union?
Let us make it clear that the partnership was based on the Cotonou Agreement, which makes it possible to set up new initiatives for cooperation which had not previously been envisaged. We work together as equals, putting our common interests on the table. The European Union clearly has strategic interests, both economic and commercial, to defend, but in Europe there is a tendency towards a certain conceptual distortion of our relations with Africa. The Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) that we are in the process of negotiating with the ACP group form part of this initiative, and involve bringing these economies up to date and making it possible, through win-win agreements, to go beyond the donor relationship. Cape Verde is a true bridgehead for continental Africa and benefits from a strategic presence in the middle of the Atlantic, helping create a zone of stability between the three continents. This stability, however, is currently seriously endangered by illicit trafficking, in the form of illegal emigration, arms or drug smuggling and money laundering. Major players have set their sights on this region to enable them to get closer to the West, but fortunately Cape Verde has reacted to this danger with foresight, and the government has, with the help of our funding, set in motion a thorough awareness-raising campaign and overhauled its security systems.
This partnership is also - and I would like to stress this point - an excellent exercise in improving coordination between member states and the European Union, imbuing the action of each with greater coherence. As such, a framework has been created which benefits all parties, and the EU Delegation in Praia, with its newly-acquired status of a Delegation in its own right, is now also able to play a full part in this process.
You’ve talked about relations between the European Union and Cape Verde, but what about relations between the latter and the rest of Africa?
Cape Verde can bring to West Africa and ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) an Atlantic dimension which compensates in part for the difficulties posed by being part of a continent, and adds a new dimension to the notion of territoriality. In terms of the EPA negotiations, Cape Verde has concentrated on the services sector, while other members of ECOWAS are more raw materials-focused, which may in the long run enable a variable-geometry agreement. Let us not forget that Cape Verde also enjoys a strong relationship with the Outermost regions (OR) of Macaronesia, in particular the Canaries, with which the archipelago shares important synergies. The Frontex mechanism has made it possible to significantly reduce the illegal flow of emigrants via the Canaries.
What are Cape Verde's weak points?
Access to water and sanitation, on the one hand, and on the other energy. These are two areas in which the European Union is providing support. Improvements in economic performance have also resulted in a greater divide between rich and poor, and the Cape Verdean government is very much aware of this.
And its strengths?
The ability of the Cape Verdean people to function effectively anywhere, at home and abroad. On a political level, I would highlight the insight with which the government has managed to ‘de-ideologize’ its foreign policy. The political class is equally at ease with representatives from the United States and from China, to mention just two major countries, and the fact that US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and the Deputy Leader of the Chinese Communist Party have recently visited Praia is proof of the importance that these countries, in particular, attach to Cape Verde.
Conformity with European standards
The end of 2007 marked Cape Verde's arrival on the international stage, and its promotion from the group of Least Developed Countries to the status of a middle-income nation, according to World Bank criteria. The country also became the 153rd member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and, more importantly, signed a special partnership with the European Union, which should eventually enable Cape Verde to deal with European operators on an equal footing.
“Instead of piecemeal actions, this partnership makes it possible to better organize our technical and normative convergence with EU legislation on the basis of six pillars,” explains José Luis Monteiro, Deputy National Authorizing Officer for the European Development Fund (EDF) in the Cape Verde government. Although normative convergence is one of these six pillars, Praia prefers to view it as forming part of the other five pillars, namely good governance, security cooperation, regional integration, the information and knowledge society and the combating of poverty. “This strategy is fundamentally political in nature, and, in addition to enhancing political, cultural and social cooperation, aims to achieve greater economic integration with the outermost Atlantic regions of the European Union in particular.”
One disappointment, according to Monteiro, is that “we were expecting additional funds for this partnership*, but the only resource earmarked for this is the EDF, which has not been increased. Despite that, we will manage.” Cape Verde is also watching with great interest the EU-Morocco Association Agreement, the last meeting of which resulted in a true qualitative leap that Monteiro believes should eventually give Morocco a form of semi-membership of the European Union.
* The provisional programme of European Community aid to Cape Verde provides €11.5 million for the special partnership, out of a total of €51 million for the period 2008-2013 (corresponding with the 10th EDF). For details of the 10th EDF, see the following article.
