| Author (Corporate) | European Centre for Development Policy Management |
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| Publisher | European Centre for Development Policy Management |
| Series Title | Policy Management Reports |
| Series Details | No.21, January 2016 |
| Publication Date | January 2016 |
| Content Type | Report |
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The Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA) links the EU to 79 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) and mobilises a large development budget of 30,5 billion euros for the period 2014-2020. It expires in 2020 and all parties are preparing their future positions. The discussion on the future of ACP-EU cooperation picked up pace in 2015, with both the EU and the ACP engaging in a soul-searching exercise and preparing their future positions. ECDPM initiated this study to promote an open and well-informed discussion on this important partnership. A political economy analysis can help to address this gap, as it does not look at what is desirable, but on understanding how things work out in practice and why. In the review process the parties to the Cotonou Partnership Agreement – led by governments but including parliamentarians, civil society, private sector operators and local authorities – will need to address existential questions that have arisen from the past fifteen years of CPA implementation and from important changes in the international context. Key messages This report finds that the Cotonou Partnership agreement has a limited track record in delivering on several of its core objectives and the framework is ill-suited to deliver the aims of the recently agreed 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. + The ACP-EU partnership has lost political traction and CPA is now primarily an aid delivery mechanism with limited political and trade value. + The overall performance of the ACP-EU partnership (beyond aid) has remained below expectations and subsequent revisions have not been able to address major implementation gaps between the laudable ambitions of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement and actual practices. + Current globalisation and regionalisation dynamics have severely affected the scope and capacity for collective action between the ACP and the EU. + The added value of the ACP Group and the CPA vis-a-vis other key players (like the African Union and Regional Economic Communities) and political partnerships is increasingly unclear. ACP countries have tended to ‘go regional’ to defend their core interests. The A, the C and the P are very different regions which cannot be easily and effectively accommodated in a tri-continental structure. + The ACP-EU framework (focused on aid and largely reserved to central governments) is not suitable to effectively and efficiently address the universal 2030 Agenda of the UN which is focused on addressing global development challenges through multi-actor partnerships |
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| Source Link | Link to Main Source http://ecdpm.org/futureACPEU |
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| Subject Categories | Politics and International Relations |
| Countries / Regions | Europe |
