Faint smiles mask lack of progress in negotiations with Pretoria

Date: 17/07/1997

By Mark Turner

WHEN South Africa finally cast away the mantle of apartheid in 1994, the EU implied that it would be rewarded with trade benefits within months.

More than three years later, Brussels and Pretoria are still bickering over market access and will be lucky to solve their disagreements by the end of the year.

Nonetheless, when Development Commissioner João de Deus Pinheiro and South Africa's Minister for Trade and Industry Alec Erwin meet in Brussels this week, they will put a brave face on things.

In essence a public relations exercise - the real bargaining is saved for closed gatherings of officials away from public gaze - the meeting will aim to show that negotiations on a trade and cooperation agreement, although behind schedule, are still on track. Whether this will convince pundits who have long written off the deal as a classic example of Eurosclerosis will depend on how well they hype the areas where there have been successes.

South Africa's accession to the Lomé Convention's political structures earlier this year will be highlighted as an important achievement, as will growing cooperation in science and technology since a 1996 agreement.

At the same time, a reconstruction and development package worth 500 million ecu over 5 years is at least being committed efficiently, although differences in the two parties' tendering procedures have made spending the cash difficult.

“Last year, we only managed to spend 30 out of 125 million ecu,” said an EU official. “Although we hope to improve on that next year, it is clear that this aid will take a long time to get through.”

These qualified achievements look rather pale next to the grinding lack of progress in trade talks, wine and fisheries agreements, and more general economic and institutional cooperation.

Since the Union presented a surprisingly harsh proposal for reciprocal market access in 1996, excluding some of South Africa's most competitive products, the so-called 'fast-track process' has stayed firmly in the slow lane.

Last month, Pretoria presented a few rather sketchy counter-proposals, essentially looking for complete access to Union markets. But Commission negotiators are waiting for more a detailed position before real talks begin.

A linked agreement on wines and spirits has run into problems over designation, with the Union attacking South Africa's use of the terms 'port' and 'sherry' for its products, and Pretoria retorting that it has done so for many years and does not intend to stop.

Furthermore, talks on a fisheries deal (which countries such as Spain say is integral to their acceptance of the overall package) have not even begun, with South Africa claiming it cannot do so until an internal policy review is complete.

Commission officials are nevertheless philosophical about the delays. “It is clear our timetable two years ago was too ambitious. We are learning that concluding a deal with a young and inexperienced administration is a difficult task,” said one official. “Given the need for internal EU consultations as talks progress, and Pretoria's parallel discussions with its southern African neighbours, all of this could take a very long time.”

Adding to tension, South Africa is still complaining about cheap EU beef flooding its markets, causing huge damage to domestic and neighbouring farmers. A delegation to the European Parliament earlier this year suggested that the cost of this trade offset the whole of the EU reconstruction package.

But Commission officials point out that they have reduced export refunds on beef sent to the country by 35&percent; since the beginning of the year and say they have yet to see conclusive evidence of Pretoria's claims.

The smiles at tomorrow's (18 July) meeting may, as a consequence, look rather thin, although officials hope that their leaders can give a high-level push to a process that might otherwise flounder for another 18 months.