CARIBBEAN-TRADE-Prominent Caribbean nationals call for re-negotiation of EPA
By Peter Richards
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC - Three prominent Caribbean nationals, including one who has served as a prime minister, have called on regional states to re-negotiate an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiated with the European Union and due to be signed later this year.

The positions of former St. Lucia prime minister Professor Vaughan Lewis, who is now a senior lecturer at the St. Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI); as well as former secretary general of the association of Caribbean States (ACS) Norman Girvan and Havelock Brewster, a senior associate with the Caribbean regional negotiating Machinery (CRNM) are outlined in a joint paper that reviewed the EPA.

The CRNM had been leading the negotiations on behalf of the CARIFORUM countries that comprise the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) grouping and the Dominican Republic.

The three Caribbean nationals agree that while it would be "politically difficult and economically risky to adopt a change in approach to the EPA at this stage" there may still be a "window of opportunity" as the agreement, though initialled, has not yet been signed by Ministers or given provisional application scheduled for April 15.

They said furthermore, the European Community (EC) had not yet "sent formal notification to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

"Also as far as we know the EU Parliament has not yet given its assent for signing at the EC level.

"Once there is EC Parliamentary assent, Ministerial signature, WTO notification and Provisional Application and the formal ratification processes begin, it will be virtually impossible to change what has been agreed. At the very least, revision would be a difficult and time-consuming process as agreement of all the Parties would be necessary."

The three prominent Caribbean nationals said CARICOM "would therefore need to weigh the political costs and economic risks of seeking to change the EPA now; against the longer-term political and economic costs of adopting the EPA in its present form".

"In this regard, it is important to bear in mind that African countries that initialled only 'Interim' EPAs in December 2007, have been given until the end of 2008 to complete their EPA negotiations; and that there is considerable pressure for the terms of these interim agreements to be re-negotiated," they said in their paper.

There have been mixed views within the Caribbean to the EPA that trade negotiators from CARIFORUM and the European Union reached agreement on in time for the December 31, 2007 deadline.

Under the proposed EPA agreements, African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries face a complete shift in their trade relations with the European Union.

Previously, these countries enjoyed unilateral trade preferences into the EU market for almost three decades under the Lomé conventions, but the fourth Lomé Convention was replaced by the Cotonou Agreement in 2000, which extended these unilateral trade preferences up to the end of 2007.

Thereafter, negotiated World Trade Organisation (WTO) compatible reciprocal trade agreements will replace the current non-reciprocal preferential trade regime.

Earlier this month, Jamaica's Prime Minister Bruce Golding said the signing of the agreement would not now take place as scheduled in April.

But Golding, who has lead responsibility for external trade negotiations in CARICOM, said he remained confident that the agreement would be signed within the time allowed under the accord.

"We have up until the end of June to sign the agreement formally and I'm confident that all the countries will be able to complete their own review of the text in order to meet that deadline. So it is anticipated certainly that the agreement will be signed sometime before the end of June."

The three Caribbean nationals have outlined a possible course of action they say Caribbean countries could take in seeking to re-negotiate the EPA.

They said CARICOM could signal to the EC that it has every intention of concluding an agreement that meets existing WTO rules and obligations, but that it cannot proceed to the signing and provisional application of the initialled EPA, "as there has been inadequate time for public consultation and official evaluation of its developmental impact and its implications for its own regional integration process".

Further, they argue that CARICOM could also signal to the EC that, in concluding a WTO-compatible agreement, it is not prepared to include any WTO-plus provisions at this time, "and until either (i) agreement is reached in the WTO on these subjects, or (ii) the relevant CARICOM regimes are completed; whichever is earlier.

"A review clause that triggers negotiations on these subjects under the above conditions may be included in the agreement," they said, adding that with respect to the trade in goods, CARICOM could request additional time of up to the end of 2008 to review the market access commitments under the initialled EPA with respect to their likely fiscal and employment impact.

They said this would also allow the region to propose amendments and to propose targeted infrastructure and firm level support for the development of supply and marketing capabilities.

But the three academics pointed out that the new initiatives would have to be supported by "appropriate diplomatic and political action aimed at mobilizing support from the Caribbean public, other ACP countries; EU member states, the EU Parliament and EU Civil Society and the Caribbean Diaspora in order to bring pressure on the EC Trade Directorate and Trade Commissioner."

They said the support of the Dominican Republic would also be important.

CMC/08