| Sports |
EU does not show respect to Pacific countries
PACIFIC hopes for a
development-friendly trade deal with the European Union (EU)
have been dashed with the grouping putting forward a draft
negotiating text that offers virtually nothing, while making
onerous demands designed to benefit its investors and exporters.
“The EU proposal shows a lack of respect for the Pacific. The
document was clearly cut and pasted from the proposal made to
West Africa, despite previous assurances that the Pacific’s
unique circumstances would be taken into account,” Barry Coates,
Oxfam New Zealand’s executive director, said.
“This shows that the EU is ignoring the concept of ‘partnership’
that should be at the heart of the proposed Economic Partnership
Agreement.”
The Pacific has been negotiating an Economic Partnership
Agreement (EPA) with the EU since 2002, in parallel with
negotiations between the EU and the Caribbean and four African
regions in the 79-member African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)
group.
The EU’s proposal comes more than a year after the Pacific
presented its own negotiating proposal, and just five months
ahead the expiry of the World Trade Organisation waiver that
allows Pacific exports to enter the EU market duty-free.
Pacific trade officials and legal experts met to consider the
proposal in detail two weeks ago, and issued a press release
expressing their deep concern at its contents.
“The EU has repeatedly promised that an EPA would be for the
benefit of the Pacific, but have rejected the proposals that the
Pacific has made to support its development,” Coates said.
“Even while offering little, they are making massive demands,
including a requirement that the Pacific give the EU any further
concessions that the region subsequently gives to its other
trading partners, such as Australia and New Zealand.
“This is clearly to promote the EU’s commercial interests,” he
said.
“Meanwhile, Australia and New Zealand are themselves demanding a
deal at least as good as the EU gets.
“The Pacific’s negotiators are caught between a rock and a very
hard place, facing huge demands.
“The reality is that the Pacific is grappling with
the first steps on a trade agreement amongst themselves.”
Even though the EU has taken over a year to respond to the
Pacific’s proposal, and then rejected most of the
developmentally-oriented provisions, they are making threats
that the Pacific will have to suffer the consequences if the
deadline is not met.
This would mean that important exports, such as tuna from Papua
New Guinea, would be charged over 20% duty on entry to the
European market.
Such high tariffs would put the PNG fishing industry and
thousands of jobs at serious risk.
But the EU’s threats ignore their treaty obligations.
As part of the Cotonou Agreement, the EU had previously promised
to provide continued access to the EU market, irrespective of
the outcome of the EPA negotiations.
The region’s least-developed countries already have roughly
equivalent access through the EU’s Everything But Arms scheme,
but other arrangements would have to be made for the non-LDC
countries, such as Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
Oxfam’s research shows that there is an alternative.
The EU could provide continued market access for these countries
by offering the Enhanced Generalised System of Preferences (GSP+)
scheme that is already used by 15 developing countries (mainly
Latin American).
“It is ironic that the EU is making serious threats to Pacific
industries and livelihood when it is their own proposals that
are so late, inflexible and self-serving,” Coates said.
“The EU is using Pacific people’s businesses, jobs, livelihood
and welfare as bargaining chips in trade negotiations. This is
unacceptable.
“The Pacific has negotiated in good faith, but the EU’s reaction
shows a fair agreement is not possible, and certainly not by the
end of the year.
“The EU could easily offer the Pacific continued access to its
market through the GSP+, and is legally obliged to do so. Oxfam
is calling on Pacific governments to formally request GSP+ from
the EU.
“It is vitally important that the EU does not use the time
pressure to attempt to force the Pacific into signing a deal
that will be harmful for their development in the long term.
“As Pacific trade ministers have previously asserted, no deal is
better than a bad deal,” Coates said. – PNS
 
|
