A4-0019/97

Resolution on the outcome of the proceedings of the ACP-EU Joint Assembly in 1996

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the resolutions adopted by the ACP-EU Joint Assembly at its sessions in Windhoek (March 1996) ((OJ C 254, 2.9.1996.)) and Luxembourg (September 1996),

- having regard to Rule 148 of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Development and Cooperation (A4-0019/97),

A. whereas Parliament must be regularly informed of the activity of the ACP-EU Joint Assembly in order to ensure that development policy is consistent,

B. having regard to the debate on EU development policy which began with presentation of the 1996 general report on future relations between the ACP States and the European Union and continued with submission of the Commission Green Paper on the subject,

C. having regard to the role which the Joint Assembly can play in conjunction with the European Parliament, in view of the democratic legitimacy of the two institutions, in alerting public opinion to the importance of development policy and specifying the direction that policy should take,

D. whereas, in view of the EU's role as the world's largest donor of development aid, the fate of the poorest nations on this planet depends in part on ensuring that development policy is given a separate place in the EU's foreign policy,

E. whereas NGOs are playing an increasingly important role in development aid; whereas there is a need for them to be recognized within the ACP-EU Joint Assembly,

1. Underlines the essential role and contribution of the ACP-EU Joint Assembly in the discussion under way on the issues and challenges facing the European Union and its ACP partners over renewal of the framework for cooperation which, beyond the year 2000 and in a worldwide context of fundamental change, will need to continue to shape the privileged relations that have united them since the beginnings of European integration;

2. Wishes the Joint Assembly accordingly to be involved in an appropriate way in the discussions which the Green Paper is designed to encourage, and the Assembly's contribution to be duly considered in the negotiations starting in September 1998, which will seek to redefine relations between the Union and the ACP States;

3. Will call for the various aspects of foreign policy to be combined in a single chapter of the Treaty when the Treaty on European Union is revised, giving development policy a special place and ensuring that it is taken into account when the common foreign and security policy is being implemented; will also call for ACP-EU cooperation to be more subject to effective parliamentary control than it is at present and to be endowed with the funds necessary to fulfil its task;

4. Confirms the need for the European Development Fund to be incorporated into the European Community budget, to ensure that funding and spending is subject to effective parliamentary control;

5. Emphasizes, in this connection, that effective development cooperation by the EU requires coordination between the EC and the Member States, and draws attention to the relevant provisions of the EU Treaty and to the Council's decisions on coordination;

6. Will call for the interest of the ACP States in a genuine development policy to be upheld in the negotiations on the future of relations with them; considers it a priority for such policy to concentrate on the needs of the most disadvantaged sectors of population and accordingly supports the promotion of measures in the fields of secure food supply, health and basic education; favours supporting the private sector by creating a suitable framework for productive capacity to evolve;

7. Is deeply concerned at the numerous internal conflicts and human rights violations in some ACP regions and supports the Joint Assembly in its representations on this point; expresses satisfaction at the Assembly's clear approach to several cases of serious human rights violations; stresses the need not only for dialogue but also for firmness and vigilance in this sensitive area;

8. Draws attention to the close connection between development and respect for human rights and democratic principles; calls for the further development of ideas on the right of intervention by the community of nations on humanitarian grounds; but also draws attention to the responsibility of that community of nations, based on the principle of solidarity, for ensuring that human beings can live in dignity anywhere in the world;

9. Notes with interest the conclusions and proposals set out by the working groups within the Assembly which have examined industrial development in the ACP countries and the issue of refugees and displaced persons, an issue of particular urgency in the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa;

10. Notes with satisfaction the Joint Assembly's decision, following its hearing on the subject at the Luxembourg session, to set up a working group on climate change, which particularly affects small island states;

11. Will emphatically support any initiatives to outlaw and remove anti- personnel mines, which are daily threatening people's lives and health and placing the development of their countries at risk;

12. Notes the concerns expressed by the Assembly at the threats to some commodities such as cocoa, sugar or bananas, which are of considerable importance to the economies of some ACP countries, and pledges to take up these legitimate concerns and to promote the protection of the preferential schemes benefiting the ACP States in their trade relations with the Union;

13. Voices its satisfaction at the steady increase in parliamentary representation within the Joint Assembly, consolidating its authority and legitimacy and confirming the growing commitment of the ACP States to the democratic process, and welcomes the commitments that have been made under Article 32 of the Fourth Lomé Convention as revised;

14. Favours the greatest possible institutional independence of the Joint Assembly, in terms of separate responsibility for organizing its business, particularly with regard to deciding on where to hold its sessions; considers it indispensable to carry out delegation missions to individual ACP States to assess the situation on the ground, in order for development cooperation to be fruitful, and accordingly supports fact-finding missions and contacts of this kind within the limits of the available budgetary funds;

15. Will give due heed to the positions of the Joint Assembly, as expressed in its resolutions, when deciding on foreign and development policy issues and other Community policies, and calls on the Council and Commission to take account of the positions adopted by the Joint Assembly;

16. Draws attention to the importance of ensuring that the Fourth Lomé Convention as revised at Mauritius enters into force without delay and therefore calls on the signatory States which have not yet ratified the revised text, in particular the Member States of the Union, to do so as soon as possible and calls on the Netherlands presidency to urge the Member States during its term of office to speed up their procedures for ratification;

17. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the ACP-EU Joint Assembly, the ACP-EU Council, the governments of the Member States of the Community, the governments and parliaments of the ACP member states, the Council and the Commission.