But while the European Commission and the UK government try to convince us that EPAs offer a good deal for the poor, governments are increasingly doubtful about the wisdom of signing up.
More time, better deals
More and more developing countries are saying that a) they won’t be ready to sign an EPA by the December deadline and b) the deals on offer aren’t good enough.
But despite these pleas, Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson who is leading the negotiations for the EU is refusing to budge. Feeling the pressure to deliver a successful outcome now that trade talks at the World Trade Organisation are deadlocked he remains wedded to driving through unfair deals by the deadline.
Mandelson and his team continue to employ underhand tactics in order to achieve their desired ends. For example, in July the EC sent a threatening letter to the Pacific negotiators suggesting that their aid could be cut by 48% if they did not sign up to EPAs.
The expert’s view
Developing countries and civil society groups have never been alone in their criticism of EPAs. Right from the start there have been prominent voices raised against the deals. Most recently, the World Bank re-entered the debate. The Bank's Senior Economist for Africa, John Page, expressed concern about the potential result of the EPAs saying "the devil is in the detail" and warning that "if we are not careful we could end up with a result that is worse than at present". He also suggested that there needed to be a careful scrutiny of the detail to get it right, but doubted that this could be done before the end of the year.
Less money, fewer jobs
Lack of scrutiny and attention to detail are some of the major problems with the EPA negotiations. It’s widely expected developing countries will face job losses and will lose money because of the cuts in taxes they will have to impose on goods coming in. But the EU has provided no clarity on where the money will come from to help them deal with these losses. And the draft agreements on the table are nearly identical for each region, paying very little attention to the individual needs of the countries involved.
Democracy needed!
Despite the fact EPAs will set the rules for trade between the EU and 77 countries worldwide for years to come, there has been virtually no debate or scrutiny of the deals within the UK and other individual countries. We’re calling on the UK government to allow our Parliament to scrutinise the deals and to ensure that poor countries are offered the chance to pursue alternative deals that would help to end poverty.
