PRESS RELEASE

Nairobi,12th May 2005

THE EC IS PUSHING FOR EPAs AMIDST INCREASING CRITICISM

“The European Commission (EC) is here in Nairobi to do a
sales pitch of the trade negotiations on so called Economic
Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with African countries, at a
time when criticism against these negotiations is
mounting”, says Peter Aoga from EcoNews Africa.

The EPA negotiations in the Eastern and Southern Africa
region are lagging behind the set time frames. The European
Commission is here to ‘discuss how to put joint talks back
on track’, according to their briefing note. “But this
proves that the time frames from the very beginning were
completely unrealistic”, says Peter Aoga from EcoNews
Africa. “The EC wants to hammer through agreements in
crucial areas such as agriculture, industrial goods and
services, through an extremely rushed time schedule. The EC
even goes beyond what has been agreed at the World Trade
Organization (WTO). Negotiations on these critical issues
must first be concluded in the Doha Round, before they
should be considered in the EPAs”.

The EC has kept arguing that the EPAs are tools for
development, while in reality these negotiations are about
creating Free Trade Areas between some of the world’s
richest countries and some of the poorest – and it is
obvious that the EU is the one benefiting.

Concerns regarding the development implications of EPAs are
increasingly being raised even among the EU member states
themselves. The UK Government in their revised position on
the EPAs state that ‘EU should take a non-mercantilist
approach and not pursue any offensive interests’ and that
‘the Commission should be ready to provide an alternative
to an EPA at the request of any ACP country’. Tony Blair’s
Commission for Africa expressed similar concerns on the
development impact of EPAs on African economies.

“This proves that the EPA negotiations are a European
Commission driven process”, says Peter Aoga from EcoNews
Africa. “EPAs are not development tools – they are tools
for EU’s own trade and investment agenda. A clear proof is
that we are negotiating with the EU Directorate for Trade,
not the Directorate for Development.”

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Karin Gregow, EcoNews Africa, Tel: 0722-565116