PM not very optimistic about future of Caricom

He is committed to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), but Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves has again voiced his pessimism about CARICOM’s further evolution into a tightly knit economic and political union.{{more}}

Dr Gonsalves, on Thursday, August 28, in Parliament, defended the proposed political union between Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St Lucia, referring to it as a move by nations within CARICOM that want to move faster towards regional integration.

Dr Gonsalves said that some countries within CARICOM, like Jamaica, are not really prepared to embrace what is necessary to see a flourishing economic union in CARICOM.

He said that while the commitment to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) remains, it is widely believed that the quest for an economic union in CARICOM makes demands that some nations, for example Jamaica, are not ready for.

“A single economy requires, demands, an element of supra-nationality in the political arrangements at the centre, beyond the current institutional governance arrangements of CARICOM, and the Jamaican government has indicated that it is not prepared to countenance these supra-national governance arrangements,” he said.

“Without these, a single economy is…not achievable,” Dr Gonsalves noted.

The Prime Minister said that he could not wait until 2015 then to realize that CARICOM isn’t ready and precious time has been wasted.

On August 14, Dr Gonsalves, along with his St Lucian and Grenadian counterparts, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Patrick Manning of Trinidad and Tobago, with a view of establishing an economic union by 2011 and a political union by 2013.

He accused some that oppose the proposed union of stirring up unnecessary controversy – while being largely uninformed about the issue.

He explained that the OECS economic union currently being worked on is expected to be in place by the end of 2009, so when the arrangement with Trinidad and Tobago is discussed, it will be evaluated so as to determine the proper protocol moving forward on this planned union.

He said issues like the court system and a possible single currency and other specifications can be discussed.

In a recent interview, Patrick Manning, of Trinidad and Tobago, said that several options of the political union are available for exploration.

These include: a unitary state, a federation, a confederation or a commission similar to the European Union.

Dr Gonsalves said that a single currency between the OECS countries, which, with the exception of the British Virgin Islands, already have the Eastern Caribbean dollar, and Trinidad and Tobago, is feasible.

“Technical studies have been done which show that in the case of Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and the OECS, the requisite convergences are technically feasible and easily manageable,” he said.

While adding Guyana to the mix in this regard can be a bit more challenging, Dr Gonsalves said that this is also possible, studies have shown.

Guyana also poses some challenges in the area of free migration if they are to be part of this proposed union.

This, he said, is because of that country’s “relative under-development,” but he was quick to stress that Guyana has tremendous value, being a nation rich with minerals, abundance of water, and land.