A report released last month by the West Africa Civil Society Organisation (WACSO) on the current stage of negotiations between ECOWAS and the European Union on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) due to be signed in 2008, has revealed that the rapid and fast track modalities adopted by the negotiations would block opportunities for democratic debate and consultation with the stakeholders concerned.

The report was released during the third civil society consultation meeting on the negotiations on Economic Partnership Agreements between ECOWAS and European Union, held in Dakar from the 10-13 November 2006.

According to the report, expressions of concern among some European Union member-states and institutions about the EU agenda for the negotiations have not yet translated into a change of direction for the European Commission.
Instead, the EC has simply adopted a new rhetoric to enable continued imposition of its parameters, agenda and momentum on ECOWAS.

“On its part, the ECOWAS still seems unable to give expression to the fundamental logic of its stated developmental concerns in the overall architecture of the EPA and its different themes.
Rather, it has tended to get bogged down with disputes with the EC over the narrow, even if legitimate, questions of support for adjustment costs, transition costs and supply-side constraints,” the report stated.

On the issue of market access for goods, this provides inadequate basis for ECOWAS to determine its concrete positions in relation to the fundamental issues of tariff reduction commitments, which form the main element of the market access negotiations and concrete and quantifiable programmes to support, protect, and promote the productive sector in West Africa in light of the overwhelming superiority of EU producer and public policy support and subsides.

The WACSO report also reveals that with regards to investment and competition policy, even though these are part of the most controversial of the Singapore issues that have been rejected in the World Trade Organisation, and even though West African ministers have made clear the collective opposition to including these issues in the EPAs, the EC has persisted with its demand that these issues be part of the EPAs.

While continuing rightly to reject this, West African ministers have taken the decision on developing their own regional policies on investment and competition.

“On trade facilitation and technical barriers to trade, we are of the view that members themselves must take appropriate steps, in line with their own regional integration efforts to address such issues as trade facilitation, and not wait for the European Union to dictate the terms to suit its interests.
The region should speed up its efforts to harmonize domestic legislation and establish the regional infrastructure to strengthen capacities in terms of standardization,” the report asserted.

With regard to intellectual property, the report reveals that there are some issues that could be appropriately explored to the benefit of ECOWAS, but emphasises and requires that these countries demonstrate the political will necessary for this to happen, and the ability to tap into existing technical skills and resources to this end.