Udenrigsudvalget 2008-09
URU Alm.del
Offentligt
UDENRIGSMINISTERIETDen 24. november 2008.
Spørgsmål nr. 34 (URU alm.del) af 18. november 2008 fraFolketingets Udenrigsudvalgtil ministeren forudviklingsbistand.Spørgsmål:Vil ministeren oversende kopi af ministerens brev til Kommissær Catherine Ashton, somomtalt under samrådet den 18. november 2008 ?Svar:Teksten til brevet af 7. november 2008, der blev fremsendt sammen med udviklingsministrenefra Nederlandene og Irland, gengives nedenfor:Rt Hon Baronesse Ashton,Commissioner for Trade at theEuropean CommissionBRUSSELSThe Hague, November 7, 2008Dear Baroness Ashton,We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your appointment and we lookforward to welcoming you personally at next week’s Development General Affairs andExternal Relations Council.As you will be aware, negotiations between the EU and ACP countries on the EconomicPartnership Agreements are at a critical stage. We welcome the comments you made at therecent European Parliament hearing, and particularly your commitment to giving a differentcharacter to ongoing regional negotiations.By concluding interim agreements focusing on the trade in goods at the end of 2007, we wereable to avoid trade disruption for most of the ACP countries concerned. However, as we aresure you will agree, we have much to do to ensure that EPAs genuinely live up to the goals
formulated in the Cotonou Partnership Agreement. We therefore need to ensure that EPAs willactively support regional integration and contribute to a regulatory framework that willstimulate economic development.If we are to succeed in this, we must be prepared to show more flexibility towards the countriesand regions concerned in the next rounds of negotiations. In May of this year, the EuropeanCouncil already underlined how important it is to take a flexible approach to the transitionfrom interim agreements to regional Economic Partnership Agreements and called on theCommission to make full use of the flexibility and asymmetry permissible under current WTOlaw so as to reflect the different development levels and development needs of the ACPcountries and regions. Judging by the vast majority of reactions received from the ACP overrecent weeks and months, it is clear that as yet no sufficient degree of consensus has beenachieved on the disputed negotiating issues as to allow negotiations to be brought to asuccessful conclusion. We would therefore like to urgently appeal to the Commission to makefull use of all the flexibility available to us under current WTO law and to actively display thatflexibility in current negotiations.At the same time, we must also deal pragmatically with the reality created by the interimagreements. Due to the fact that not all the countries within each regional group have initialledinterim EPA there are two different systems - the interim agreements and GSP/EBA - beingapplied. In some cases, it would appear that those different rules of origin and changes in thepractice of cumulation have resulted in disruptions in trade. While we remain keen for theinterim agreements to be signed as soon as possible, we call on the Commission to continuework with the ACP countries concerned to find an early, pragmatic solution to this issue as acoherent set of rules of origin will only be settled in the forthcoming EPA.We share a common understanding that the EPAs should be instruments for development.That means we must take a coordinated approach that is specifically tailored to the needs of theACP countries and regions and differs significantly from other trade agreements negotiated bythe EU. With EPAs, the overriding goal is development by a carefully sequenced integration ofthe ACP countries into the global market that takes account of their respective levels ofdevelopment. Our aim with the EPAs is to foster development through increased regionalintegration. If the goal of comprehensive regional agreements is to be achieved, the criticalfactor in the coming negotiations will be the extent to which especially the poorest ACPcountries, the LDCs, are able and willing to negotiate and sign such agreements. We shouldmake their decision easier by showing the necessary flexibility while moving towards regionalagreements through, for example, setting reasonable transition periods in new regionalliberalization schedules and/ or providing for review clauses in the text. Equally, in regionswhere ACP parties agree to include these elements in the EPAs, agreements on the trade inservices and other trade-related issues must be designed in such a way that they primarilysupport development friendly regional integration whilst at the same time not placing excessivestrain on the ACP countries' implementation capacities. With these topics, it is not a questionof improving EU market access but of establishing more predictable regional trading rules thatwill stimulate sustainable economic activity.
To demonstrate our commitment to building trust and confidence with our ACP partners, webelieve that the EU should build on the dialogue that has already begun over the past year byresponding positively to the specific ACP proposal for an EPA meeting at joint ministeriallevel. An informal ministerial meeting in the near future would underpin the ‘new approach’that you have eloquently referred to in the European Parliament and could bring a new politicalimpetus to the ongoing negotiations.We are sure that, with a renewed political emphasis and stronger efforts at the technical level toaddress the issues highlighted above, the negotiations can be brought to a conclusion that isconducive to development. Again, we look forward to meeting you in person at thedevelopment GAERC next week when there will be an opportunity to discuss EPAs further.We would be very interested to hear your views on the topics outlined above and look forwardto a fruitful exchange of views.Yours sincerely,Ms Ulla TørnæsMinister for Development CooperationDenmarkPeter Power T.D.Minister of State for Overseas Development,Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland.Bert KoendersMinister for Development Cooperationof theKingdom of The Netherlands
