Commission defends last-minute trade deals

The European Commission has insisted that it will continue to negotiate full economic development deals with countries in the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) region despite criticism of interim deals signed late last month.

A Commission spokesman said that negotiations would aim to have full economic partnership agreements (EPAs) in place by the end of this year. The EPAs would build on the interim deals signed in December to allow market access for goods from developing countries which stood to lose when the preferential trading system with the EU came to an end on 1 January.

But some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are urging ACP states to challenge the interim deals that they have signed, claiming that they demand too much trade liberalisation and are detrimental to poor countries’ economies. A demonstration planned in Brussels tomorrow (11 January) will call on ACP states to resist EU pressure to sign full EPAs. "There are quite a number of worrying clauses involving dramatic trade liberalisation over short periods of time," said Amy Barry, a trade spokeswoman for Oxfam International.

"The agreements were initialled rather than signed…they were pushed through so quickly that in some cases new texts were presented to countries hours before they were initialled," she added.

The Commission said that much of the trade liberalisation which NGOs were critical of involved industries where there were already low or no tariffs. A spokesman said that the Commission expected the interim deals to be honoured. "Initialling an agreement is a legal commitment. It is worrying for NGOs to be calling for sovereign governments to row back on that," the spokesman said.

The Commission signed market access deals with 36 countries before the preferential system was dismantled - a move deemed necessary following a legal challenge to the system in 2000. Four countries not classified as least developed countries, which are already guaranteed duty-free, quota-free access to EU markets, failed to sign interim deals by the end of last year. Nigeria had made a political decision not to do so while South Africa already has a bilateral deal in place with the EU, said the Commission spokesman. The Republic of Congo and Gabon also failed to sign interim deals but have minimal exports which were affected by EU tariff increases on 1 January, the spokesman added.

"We are pleased that we managed to avoid disruption to trade and despite the opposition from NGOs many ACP states have concluded agreements with the EU within the timeframe," the spokesman said.

The European Commission has insisted that it will continue to negotiate full economic development deals with countries in the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) region despite criticism of interim deals signed late last month.