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What impact will EPAs have on countries who have signed?
The impact could be devastating. EPAs will force poor countries to 'liberalise' their economies too fast and too much. Experience from similar deals in the past shows that EPAs will result in:
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Job losses: poor countries will face direct competition with goods from Europe before they are ready, destroying local industries, resulting in huge job losses.
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Loss of a manufacturing future: EPAs allow countries to exclude a few products from liberalisation; so many countries chose to protect their vulnerable agricultural sectors.This means little remaining scope to promote industrial development in the future.
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Loss of sovereignty: legal commitments to look after the rights of overseas investors, ahead of local laws to protect workers and the environment. These could also override poor countries' own plans for development.
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Less government income: a reduction in government revenue because of reduced taxes on imports into poor countries. This will mean there's less money for investing in health, education and infrastructure like electricity cables or new roads.
For example:
- By 2012, Côte d’Ivoireis likely to lose an estimated $83 million, equivalent to its current health spending for half a million people, as a result of liberalising tariffs under EPAs
- Mozambique will lose $7.6 million per year in government revenue, money that is desperately needed in a post-conflict country already heavily dependent on external aid.
