ACP - EU Relations Not as Favorable as the Rhetoric

Abstract

Trade is key to development. In order for any nation to develop, pathways to trade need to be favorable. The EEC’s and then the EU’s development cooperation policies have historically supported favorable trade agreements with Africa. From Yaounde through Lome 4 bis, elements such as the non-reciprocal nature of trade conditions, the European Development Fund (EDF), STABEX and SYSMIN illustrated the special status Europe1 accorded to Africa and then later the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP). The Cotonou era is a new challenge for the ACP and especially Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Though the EU still holds the rhetoric of favoring development, striving for greater partnerships and empowering nations, in actual fact, this new construct and its Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) show that the EU stance on the status of the ACP nations has drifted.