Testing times ahead for EU, ACP

EUROPEAN Union representative Neven Mimica told the African, Caribbean and Pacific heads of State and Government that this week’s summit in Port Moresby was a crucial time to reflect on the EU-ACP relations.
It is indeed a crucial moment in the history of this large loosely-held community of mostly former European colonies but more so for Europe itself.
As Mimica has himself stated, the countries that signed the Cotonou Agreement between the EU and the ACP member states in June 2000 are no longer the same today.
Europe itself is no longer the same today. The member states of the European Union have almost doubled but at the same time the continent itself has experienced its greatest social and economic times yet.
That Europe is in deep crisis is no secret. The world’s major media outlets are awash with news of Europe’s woes.
There are daily news accounts of matters that threaten to dismantle the union and pit one member state against another.
Some of those matters are from within the union itself while others, like the seemingly unending string of immigrants mostly from North Africa making precarious boat trips across the Mediterranean into Europe.
Europe has been divided and will remain divided on the matter as long as it needs to grapple with its own social and economic challenges.
The social and humanitarian questions pertaining to the immigrant issue also hinge on the economic ability of  member states to absorb these large numbers.
In the face of all that the European’s unity is further “threatened” from within.   While it would be an ideal situation to have the union intact to face the challenges, a very significant member is edgy remaining part of the union.
Britain, a traditional powerhouse in the European Union, is divided over whether it would want to remain with the union.
On June 23, Britons will decide through the “Brexit” referendum to either stay with the union or out of it.
Commentators and world leaders, including President Barrack Obama and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, have been reported saying they would want to see a European Union with Britain remaining part of it.
That decision would be made on June 23 by the British public.
And whatever the outcome of that vote, ACP-EU relations may not remain the same as they are today.
The ACP group of states, says Wikipedia, was created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975.
The group’s main objectives are sustainable development and poverty reduction within its member states, as well as their greater integration into the world’s economy.
All of the member states, except Cuba, are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement with the European Union.
The Cotonou Agreement (signed in Cotonou, Benin in June 2000 is the successor to the Lomé Conventions.
One of the major differences from the Lomé Convention is that the partnership is extended to new actors such as civil society, private sector, trade unions and local authorities.
These will be involved in consultations and planning of national development strategies, provided with access to financial resources and involved in the implementation of programmes.
The EU is an economic and political partnership involving 28 European countries.
It began after World War II to foster economic co-operation, with the idea that countries which trade together are more likely to avoid going to war with each other. It has since grown to become a “single market” allowing goods and people to move around, basically as if the member states were one country.
It has its own currency, the euro, which is used by 19 of the member countries, its own parliament and it now sets rules in a wide range of areas, including on the environment, transport, consumer rights and even things like mobile phone charges.
A decision by the British public on June 23 to exit the EU will make the union a vastly different entity from what it is now, given Britain’s significant political and economic standing in the union and the world.
Without Britain it would be a different EU the ACP group of states would have to deal with from this year on.
The change will obviously involve a lot of shifting and adjustments in economic and political relations between the two groups of states.