Rethinking Acp‐eu Relations After Cotonou: Tensions, Contradictions, Prospects

Abstract

This Policy Arena has two main objectives. First, it seeks to unravel how the partnership between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group has evolved since the adoption of the Cotonou Agreement in 2000, including its 2005 and 2010 reviews and the implementation of its three key pillars (development cooperation, trade and political dialogue). Second, it explores the prospects of EU‐ACP relations in the medium to long term. In particular, it discusses whether the ACP‐EU cooperation framework is still relevant in the light of a number of global changes and, more specifically, whether the ACP configuration is still useful to its members. To address these issues, both the EU and the ACP Group have established two working groups. Within the ACP, voices are critical of the EU‐ACP partnership, but there appears to be more willingness to reform and renew it. Within the EU, the record of the Cotonou Agreement is seen more positively, but there seems to be less willingness to preserve it. The third review of the Cotonou Agreement to be finalised by 2015, and more generally its expiration in 2020, provides an opportunity – to which this Policy Arena seeks to contribute – to rethink the EU‐ACP cooperation model. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Purposefully Triggering Unintended Consequences: the European Commission and the Uncertain Future of the EU-ACP Partnership

“…This article has shed light on the European Commission's proposal recommending renewal of the EU-ACP Agreement along two interlinked dimensions: a general part applicable to all ACP countries and three distinct compacts for countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Preservation of the EU-ACP cooperation model, albeit through a hybrid format, was controversial because of its patchy record in terms of human development and economic growth, the opposition of various EU member states, and the existence of allegedly more legitimate and effective frameworks for engaging with ACP countries and addressing global challenges (Carbone 2013b).…”

“…A more general analysis of the evolution of EU-ACP relations reveals that policy outcomes are often the result of the convergence of the preferences of a few EU member states, with either France or the United Kingdom, or both, always playing a leading role. Still, the role of the European Commission should not be overlooked, as on various occasions it has appeared to promote continuity more than change (Holland 2002;Babarinde and Faber 2005;Carbone 2013b).…”

The Impact of Global Economic Integration on Africa in the 21st Century

“…However, The abolishing of such preference was seen as primarily in the interest of the EU [9]. Nonetheless, the EU continued to use the language of partnership.…”

International development and the European Union's external policies: changing contexts, problematic nexuses, contested partnerships

“…Unsurprisingly, the relevance of the Cotonou Agreement, in the run-up to its third review scheduled to be concluded by 2015 and its expiration in 2020, has been questioned not only in Europe but also in various ACP countries(Carbone 2013c).…”