A big awakening on EPAs

The organizers of last week’s activities held in SVG to focus on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) being negotiated by the Caribbean and the European Union have every good reason to feel satisfied with their efforts. OXFAM and the Barbados-based Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC) teamed up with WINFA to stage these activities, culminating with a big Concert and Rally at the Calliaqua Playing Field last Thursday.{{more}} Preceding the concert was a strategy workshop for Caribbean Civil Society activists last Tuesday, a Media Day on Wednesday and a public exhibition at Heritage Square during the week. There was also a lecture, like the concert, broadcast live on radio and beamed worldwide via the Internet, with a leading Mexican intellectual explaining the effects of a Free Trade Agreement (with the USA) on his country and his people.

The wide media coverage ensured that the concerns and proposals of Caribbean civil society and, via WINFA, its farmers reached an international audience. The feedback, locally, regionally and internationally has been overwhelming. More than anything else, it vindicated the issue constantly raised by the organizers of the events – that Caribbean people know little, either of the content or implications of the EPA being negotiated by their governments. Even well-educated persons have confessed about their limited knowledge of the Agreement and its possible benefits or drawbacks. Awareness has definitely been heightened.

One would like to see our media give more coverage to the EPA. Our Ministry of Education and teachers should not miss the opportunity to ensure that information on the EPA is provided to our students and pupils. Invite the Ministry of Trade to organize sessions, discussions, teach-ins, and debates on the EPA. Is it a topic included for the popular secondary schools Public Speaking Competition? It ought to be. Let us generate as wide as possible discussion on this crucial issue.

Regarding the negotiations themselves, an important stage is being set in Jamaica this week. There, a Prime Ministerial Committee of CARICOM, made up of Prime Ministers Arthur of Barbados, Golding of Jamaica and our own Gonsalves, will come face to face with European Commissioners of Trade (Peter Mandelson) and Development (Louis Michel). The EPA negotiations will be issue to be covered. The meeting comes against the backdrop of persistent pressure by the EU to get CARIFORUM (CARICOM plus the Dominican Republic) to sign the EPA by December. Mandelson himself has resorted to intimidatory language, while the European Commission has abruptly ditched the Sugar Protocol, virtually throwing sugar down the same drain in which it is scuttling bananas.

The Jamaica meeting is significant, not just because of its timing. It cannot be overlooked that Mandelson and Michel are meeting PRIME MINISTERS, not just Ministers of Trade. This says much for the interest of the Heads of Government. Then Mandelson and Michel (shall we call them M&M for short?) are straight from a meeting with the Ministers of Trade from the Pacific. The Pacific is the region most comparable to the Caribbean, being comprised of similar vulnerable small-island states. What came out of the meeting between the Pacific states and M&M?

First, is the Pacific’s insistence, that it is not ready to sign a full EPA by year-end. Instead, both sides agreed that in view of the short time available, they would opt for a WTO-compatible interim agreement as a stepping stone to a comprehensive EPA. This is due to be signed in November, and will take effect from January 1, 2008. The interim agreement covers such areas of interest to the Caribbean as goods schedule (market access offers), fisheries and rules of origin.

The Jamaica gathering is sure to bear in mind what Messrs M&M have agreed with the Pacific islands. Our Heads are well aware that there has been a cry, at all levels, for us not to be railroaded into a bad EPA by year end. Europe is negotiating in bad faith, as its actions over sugar and bananas indicate and as its bullying threats underline.

The EPA test on offer is still weak on compensating for the region’s losses, both in exports and as are prised open to European penetration. It does not live up to its “Partnership in Development” promise nor does it provide enough opportunities for our small farmers, entrepreneurs and informal sectors. We expect our Heads to be firm in the face of the European blitzkrieg. Let them know that:

‘EVERY MOVE THEY MAKE, EVERY STEP THEY TAKE, WE’LL BE WATCHING THEM!’