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**Minutes of the sitting of Monday, 6 April 2009 **

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Official Journal C 221 , 14/09/2009 P. 0001 - 0003 *

Minutes of the sitting of Monday, 6 April 2009

(2009/C 221/01)

(The sitting opened at 11.40 a.m.)

Formal inaugural sitting

The following addressed the Assembly:

Mr Jan Kohout, President-in-Office of the EU Council of Ministers, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic in charge of Development, Mr Wilkie Rasmussen, Co-President of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, Dr Mirek Topolanek, President-in-Office of the EU Council, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and Ms Glenys Kinnock, Co-President of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

(The sitting adjourned at 12.25 p.m. and resumed at 3.05 p.m.)

IN THE CHAIR: Ms KINNOCK

Co-President

Sitting of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly

The Co-President welcomed all the participants. She called for one minute of silence to mark the sudden passing away of Mr Abdalla Mohamed Bedri, from Sudan, who had been a Member of the JPA. She also expressed sympathy on behalf of the Assembly for the victims of the earthquake that struck that day in central Italy with a high death toll.

1. Composition of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly

The Co-President announced that the list of Members of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly, as forwarded by the authorities of the ACP States and the President of the European Parliament, would be annexed to the minutes.

2. Accreditation of non-parliamentary representatives

The Co-President announced that the authorities of the ACP States had sent a list of non-parliamentary representatives. In accordance with Article 17(1) of the Partnership Agreement and Article 1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly, she proposed that these representatives should be recorded and their names listed in an annex to the minutes.

The Joint Parliamentary Assembly agreed to this.

Speaker: Hutchinson.

Decision: The Joint Parliamentary Assembly agreed to remind parliaments of the ACP countries that delegates should be Members of Parliament and should only be replaced by Ambassadors on genuinely exceptional occasions.

3. Substitutes

The Co-President announced the following substitutes: Fernández Martín (for López-Istúriz White), Gill (for Jöns), Hutchinson (for McAvan), Kastler (for Gaubert), Klass (for Coelho), Leinen (for Grabowska), Neris (for Pleguezuelos Aguilar), Olajos (for Novak), Seeber (for Ribeiro e Castro) and Virrankoski (for Busk).

4. Adoption of draft agenda (ACP-EU/100.498)

The draft agenda was adopted as shown in these minutes.

5. Approval of the minutes of the 16th session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (OJ C 61 of 16.3.2009)

The minutes were approved.

6. Co-Presidents' announcements, including decisions taken at the Bureau meeting on 5 April 2009

The Co-President reported on the decisions of the Bureau meeting on 5 April 2009:

- To authorise the following reports for the standing committees:

- Committee on Political Affairs: The Role of Free and Independent Media.

- Committee on Economic Development, Finance and Trade: The decision on the subject for the next report would be taken at the Committee meeting in September 2009.

- Committee on Social Affairs and the Environment: The Social Impact of the Global Crisis.

- To approve the report on the 2008 fact-finding mission to the Caribbean and to publish it on the JPA website.

- To adopt its report on Non-State Actors, to publish it on the JPA website and to implement its recommendations from September 2009.

- To cancel the JPA mission to observe the European Parliament elections in June 2009.

- To proceed with the organisation of the 4th Regional Meeting in Burkina Faso from 28 - 30 October 2009.

- To write to the European Commission calling for the adoption of a rider to the ACP-EU Financing Agreement concerning per diems for ACP members of the JPA.

- To write to the ACP Council and Committee of Ambassadors calling for a revision of the decision of the ACP Council to reduce the number of days and staff of the ACP Secretariat that service plenary sessions of the JPA.

The Co-President gave information on other events taking place during the week, including the workshops on the 7 April, and reported on the Women's Forum which had taken place on 4 April.

The Co-President announced that the deadlines were as follows:

- concerning amendments to motions for resolutions included in the reports presented by the standing committees: Monday, 6 April at 6.00 p.m.

- concerning amendments to the compromise resolution and the other urgent motions for resolution on Somalia: Tuesday, 7 April at 3.00 p.m.

- concerning amendments to the compromise resolution and the other urgent motions for resolution on the food and financial crises: Tuesday, 7 April at 6.00 p.m.

7. Statement by Mr Louis Michel, Member of the Commission with responsibility for development and humanitarian aid

The Co-President welcomed the Commissioner and thanked him for his long-standing commitment to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

The Commissioner made a statement on behalf of the Commission.

8. Question Time to the Commission

Altogether 19 questions were put to the Commission.

The Commission had previously replied to the questions in writing and Mr Michel gave oral replies to the supplementary questions by the following authors:

Question No 1 by Mr Jardim Fernandes on support for the ACP countries in the context of the international financial crisis.

Question No 4 by Mr Assarid (Mali) on entry into force of the 10th EDF.

Question No 6 by Ms Van Lancker on EPAs and regional integration.

Question No 7 by Ms Neris on the EU/CARIFORUM EPA: Regional cooperation.

Question No 9 by Mr Cashman on Parliamentary action around the 15th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development.

Question No 10 by Mr William (Seychelles) on ACP-EU fisheries relations.

Question No 19 by Ms Aubert on support for agriculture.

Question No 11 by Mr Hutchinson on the situation in the Eastern DRC.

Question No 12 by Mr Veneto on the grave situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Question No 13 by Mr Schnellhardt on relations with Zimbabwe after the elections.

Question No 14 by Mr Cornillet on Darfur.

Question No 15 by Mr Jardim Fernandes (for Ms Gomes) on human rights in Ethiopia.

Question No 16 by Ms Carlotti and Ms Deerpalsing (Mauritius) on the political situation in Madagascar (the supplementary question was asked by Ms Carlotti).

Question No 17 by Mr O. Schmidt (for Mr Van Hecke) on regional management of the Nile.

Question No 18 by Ms Atim-Ogwal (Uganda) on small arms and light weapons and their disastrous impact on the economic, political and social lives of the people of sub-Saharan Africa.

The authors of questions Nos 2, 3, 5 and 8 were not present.

9. Action taken by the Commission on the resolutions adopted at the 16th session of the ACP -EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, held in Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea)

The Commissioner referred to a document on action taken by the Commission, which had been distributed.

10. The situation in Madagascar

As Commissioner Michel had spoken about the subject when replying to questions, he did not make a presentation.

Speakers: Deerpalsing (Mauritius), William (Seychelles), Diagne (Senegal), Polisi (Rwanda) and Mafuga (Lesotho).

The Commissioner responded to points raised.

11. Debate with the Commission

Speakers: O. Schmidt, De Sousa (Angola), Straker (St. Vincent & Grenadines), Martínez Martínez, Ramotar (Guyana), Polisi (Rwanda), Assarid (Mali), Milupi (Zambia), Naib (Eritrea), Deerpalsing (Mauritius), Cavuilati (Fiji) and Mabaya (Democratic Republic of the Congo).

The Commissioner responded to points raised.

12. Urgent topic No 1: The role of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement in addressing the food and financial crisis in ACP countries.

Mr Andrew Mold, Senior Economist, OECD Development Centre, made a presentation.

Commissioner Michel spoke.

Speakers: Bobbo (Cameroon), Schröder, Martínez Martínez, Ntuane (Botswana), O. Schmidt, William (Seychelles), F. Schmidt, Mayer, Gebre-Christos (Ethiopia) and Schnellhardt.

Mr Mold replied to a question put to him.

(The sitting closed at 6.45 p.m.)

Wilkie Rasmussen and

Glenys Kinnock

Co-Presidents

Sir John Kaputin and

Dietmar Nickel

Co-Secretaries-General

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