Editorial
The need for Cotonou
This special issue of The Courier celebrates the 50th birthday of the European Union (EU). The EU embodies the dreams of peace and improved standards of living for people who have, over time, paid a heavy price for the disunity of their countries, not only in Europe but throughout the world. For so many people and countries alike, it has become a model of hope. This is what Jacques Delors probably meant when he spoke of “the need for Europe”.
A group of Togolese people engrossed in the event of the day: the EEC-ACP. Convention signed at Lomé in February 1975.
© EC Photo Library
Europe’s development policy is engrained in the EU and incorporated into its founding act, the Treaty of Rome. The novel character of this policy, namely the contractual nature of its aid to what was to become the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group, was already etched into the Yaoundé Convention, the forerunner to Lomé and Cotonou.
As with negotiations on other agreements, those on the current Cotonou Agreement were tough. Since coming into being, Cotonou’s newest aspect, the gradual implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), which implies a shift from a relationship of aid to one of trade partners, has caused feelings to run high. EPAs, which came into force on 1 January 2008 for a number of ACP countries, are seen by some as diluting the altruistic nature of ACP-EU relations that could, in turn, lead to the splitting up of the ACP Group into disparate weakened, isolated regions.
It is not the first time that innovations in the Lomé-Cotonou Conventions have stirred the prophets of doom. There was the time when political dialogue incorporated democratic progress into cooperation. Scepticism also occurred over the considerable opportunities given to non-state actors in cooperation, civil society and the private sector.
A few years on, those who were initially the most nervous about these features of cooperation now see them as having made progress by contributing to positive democratic developments in ACP countries. Several crises have been handled skilfully, such as the recent coup d’état in Fiji and a short time ago, the unrest in Côte d’Ivoire. The entry of Cuba into the ACP Group and the situation in Zimbabwe are also cases in point.
An increasing number of the world’s developing countries aspire to having the Lomé-Cotonou type of model of relations with their wealthier partners.
The need for Europe is well demonstrated; the need for the ACP-EU partnership cannot be denied, if only for the commitment to its founding principle: equality between donor and recipient. It provides a guarantee for the future.
