The Future of Lome: Europe’s Role in African Growth

Lomé Versus Free Trade Agreements: The Dilemma Facing the ACP Countries

“…The total budget allocated to the CDI for 1995-2000 was only 73 million ecu, quite inadequate for the task, which itself needs to greatly expand to adopt a more sector-based approach to complement project-based assistance. Other important areas for EU assistance concern much needed institution building and innovation in areas such as law, accounting and financial regulation (Collier et al, 1997) and in helping to identify, among the widespread inadequacies in infrastructure, those areas which particularly inhibit production. Targeting and improving the efficiency of EU aid in this way would however, require the ACP countries to accept that aid has to be more performance related than in the past and that aid would be re-allocated from countries with a poor record of implementation of reforms to those with a good record.…”

“…Differentiated reciprocity, based on regional groups of ACP countries, would provide the additional benefits of designing a schedule for free trade which best fulfilled the needs of the group and would provide 'a major impetus to the regional integration process under way among ACP countries'. These themes of an FTA providing an anchor for preventing a reversal of trade policy reform and strengthening regional groupings, are given analytical support by Collier and Gunning (1995) and Collier, Guillaumont, Guillaumont and Gunning (1997), who, in addition, suggest that additional security of access to the EU market could be obtained by incorporating into the FTA an undertaking to refrain from anti-dumping actions in return for accepting restrictive rules of origin (to prevent East Asian producers benefiting from the agreement). 24 The EU has, since 1993, concluded, or plans to negotiate a variety of free trade agreements (in addition to the agreement with the EFTA countries establishing the European Economic Area) with the Central and East European Countries (CEEC), the 'Europe' Agreements; the Mediterranean countries, the Euro-Med Agreements so far negotiated with Morocco and Tunisia; and is currently in protracted negotiations with South Africa.…”

Reforming Stabex

“…The approaching expiration of the current treaty, Lome IV, has led to an intense debate which has focused on the Commission's proposal for introducing reciprocity in EU-ACP trade relations and on the question whether the Stabex scheme should be maintained. The first issue was considered in Collier and Gunning (1995) and Collier et al (1997a); here we focus on the future of Stabex.…”

Special and Differential Treatment in the Millennium Round

“…As 3 See the discussion of Latin American reforms in Rajapatirana, de la Mora, and Yatawara (1997), and African reforms in Sorsa (1996) and Collier, Guillaumont, Guillaumont, and Gunning (1997). …”