WRITTEN QUESTION E-1393/02

by Glenys Kinnock (PSE) to the Council

(15 May 2002)

Subject: Enlargement and the potential impact on ACP countries

Does the Council agree that it is regrettable that there has been no attention paid until now to the impact of enlargement on ACP countries?

Reply

(30 September 2002)

As the Honourable Member is certainly aware, with their accession to the Union, the new Member States will be required to apply the entire acquis, which includes all the commitments entered into under policies pursued by the Union externally, and the Common Commercial Policy. The Union has a scheme under the system of generalised preferences for the benefit of developing countries and, through the Cotonou Agreement, which builds on twenty-five years of cooperation under the Lomé Conventions, a comprehensive system of relations with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. The new Member States will be required to take on all the obligations of the Community and its Member States in these areas, including that of contributing to the European Development Fund. Therefore, the ACP countries will enjoy the same treatment and preferences by the countries acceding to the EU, and the new Member States will be obliged upon accession to open their markets unilaterally for ACP products as is the case for the present EU. Already now, the progressive alignment of the candidate countries' positions with those of the EU in the framework of external trade relations and in multilateral fora makes relations more reliable and predictable for the ACP countries. Enlargement should enhance and improve the ACP countries' trade opportunities, leading to increased trade flows and opening a wider market to their products under harmonised conditions. It is worthwhile noting that, as a result of enlargement, the ACP export market will grow from 380 million consumers to 500 million consumers.

In accordance with Article 94(3) of the Cotonou Agreement, during the ongoing accession negotiations both Parties exchange their views on relevant issues resulting from the enlargement of the EU. Enlargement has been on the agenda of the annual meeting of the ACP-EU Council of Ministers and will also be discussed during the up-coming Council in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) on 28 June. The Honourable Member's attention is also drawn to the last paragraph of the aforementioned Article of the Agreement, stipulating that the Parties shall review the effects of the accession of new Member States on this Agreement. The Council of Ministers may decide on any transitional or amending measures that might be necessary.

The Spanish Presidency convened a high-level meeting in April which brought together the ACP Ambassadors, the Ambassadors of the candidate countries, the Presidency and the European Commission to allow an exchange of views on the state of play in the accession negotiations and the present acquis in the field of development cooperation. Discussions focused on perspectives for the European Development Policy, the Cotonou system and the European Development Fund financing as well as the evolving trade preferences given by the EU to the ACP countries under the Lomé and Cotonou Agreements. It was concluded that consultations should be continued in the future in view of the developments in the enlargement process.