The 15th session of the ACP-EU JPA was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia from 17 to 20 March 2008. Slovenia and brought together 78 MEPs and 78 parliamentarians from the African, Caribbean and Pacific states having JPAs Co-Presidents Glenys Kinnock and Wilkie Rasmussen (Cook Islands) as key speakers. The Economic Partnership Agreements are on top of the agenda of the JPA.
The three Standing Committees met on 15 March and adopted three reports for plenary:
* Political Affairs: Experiences from the European Integration Process relevant to ACP countries
* Economic Committee: Food Security in ACP Countries and ACP-EU Cooperation
* Social Committee: Social and Environmental Consequences of Structural Adjustment Programmes
On Monday the discussions were mainly focused on the negotiations of EPAs. Glenys Kinnock and Wilkie Rasmussen have expressed their concern about the tone and procedures around EPAs and have indicated that ACP countries feel too much pressure.
EP President Hans Gert Poettering has underlined the importance of a good working relationship between the two partners and said in a video message that “ACP-EU relations are not simply a treaty between states and the Community; they also constitute a union between peoples.
The Assembly has also discuss and vote on three reports on Thursday, the 20th of March,
- Social and environmental consequences of structural adjustment programmes, by Gay
Mitchell (EPP-ED, IE) and Alma Oumarou (Niger), which calls on the World Bank and the
IMF to refrain from economic policy conditionality in their lending, make their policies
more country-specific, and focus on outcome-based, anti-poverty conditionality.
- Experiences from the European regional integration process relevant to ACP countries,
by Filip Kaczmarek (EPP-ED, PL) and Mr De Sousa (Angola), which calls on ACP
countries to agree to exercise sovereignty jointly in areas where they have long-term
common interests and cross-border problems, and advocates regional undertakings for
joint exploration, regulation and control of natural resources.
- Food security issues in ACP countries and the role of ACP-EU co-operation, by Alain
Hutchinson (PES, BE) and Mohamed Ali (Ethiopia), which says that better managing
water supplies, empowering women to manage food production, and banning the use of
food plants in bio-fuels would all help to reduce food insecurity.
