The European Commission this week adopted its long-awaited Green Paper

Date: 21/11/1996

on the future of its relations with 70 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) nations. The Lomé Convention which governs EU-ACP ties expires in 2000, but negotiations on renewing it are due to begin in 1998. Before then, the Commission wants EU member states to take another look at whether Lomé should continue in its present form.