Mr President, it cannot be repeated often enough: since 1975, the Lomé Convention has constituted an important pillar of European development cooperation and has a pilot role to play in many respects. Based as it is on the principle of partnership and equality, and on parliamentary control by the Joint Assembly, it is an example to the world. Most appropriately, given that this year we are celebrating 25 years of cooperation under Lomé, we will shortly be signing a new and more advanced partnership agreement, which also upgrades the Joint Assembly into a genuine parliamentary assembly on both sides. So I do not want to look back only to the year 1999. The rapporteur, Mr Corrie, has already done so most expertly. Much of what concerns us today is the outcome of fundamental processes of transformation in all parts of the world since the late 1980s. They also had strong repercussions in the developing countries. The after-shocks can still be felt. ACP cooperation is a dynamic process. The content of the agreements has progressed steadily between Lomé I and Lomé VI. At the same time the number of partner states has increased considerably, now standing at 71. All those involved were particularly moved by the enlargement to Namibia and South Africa. Cuba has just knocked at the door, and, if Cuba is also accepted into the ACP-EU community, that will be a momentous step and will bring in its wake processes of change in Cuba itself. So ACP cooperation remains very exciting, and not only because of the new emphases introduced in the new Convention. Fighting poverty and promoting sustained economic, cultural and social development are important objectives in the endeavour to build up democratic societies, based on respect for human rights, in the ACP states. That also means strengthening the democratic institutions. The history of the Joint Assembly provides impressive evidence of a positive trend in that direction. In the past, the representatives of the ACP countries tended to be government members, government officials or ambassadors; but today at least three quarters of the ACP delegates are elected members of parliament. We ought to throw a big party when the figure reaches 100% in the near future, which is indeed what the new Convention is aiming at. Unfortunately there is far too little appreciation of the steady advance of processes of democratisation which, unlike the various crises that arise, largely pass unnoticed. One special aspect of multilateral cooperation with the ACP states is regional cooperation and integration. There is one wish on the European Parliament’s long wish list that will be fulfilled: as we have already heard, the Joint Assembly will soon also be able to hold regional assemblies. Enhanced regional cooperation can help prevent the outbreak of conflicts based on ethnic, economic, social or religious factors, i.e. have a preventive effect. For the same reason the European Parliament has always called for civil society to be involved in the decision-making processes and in cooperation management, and emphasised the importance of decentralised cooperation. The enhanced contacts between the Joint Assembly and the social partners provided for in the new Convention are another step in the right direction. But I am a little sad that the European Development Fund has still not been incorporated in the Community budget. I hope it does not take another 25 years before we finally achieve that too.

Political group: PSE