Africa may lose tariff-free access to EU markets (World Press news) |
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The EU and Africa have failed to reach agreement on a new trading system after a two-day summit in Lisbon was divided on Zimbabwe and Darfur at its close on Sunday, says the Independent.
Despite committing themselves to a new ‘strategic partnership’, negotiations stalled on the proposed series of economic partnership agreements, designed to replace existing deals with African countries. The IHT reports that if they fail to reach agreement on the (Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs by 31 December, African countries could lose tariff-free access to European markets under rules laid down by the WTO.
El País describes how African countries stood up to European leaders on the issue of EPAs, demanding agreements that were more just and suited to their economies. The EU, says the paper, attempted to calm African leaders by promising high-level negotiations in the days to come.
The Times reports that Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe dismissed as “Gordon’s gang of four” a quartet of European leaders who lined up to attack his misrule, as he sought to blame Britain for the repeated criticism he was forced to endure at the EU-Africa summit. Although the EU lifted a travel ban to allow Mugabe to attend the summit, says the FT, its leaders seem to have adopted their own personal exclusion zones.
Meanwhile, Le Monde reports that the new ‘strategic partnership’ signed by the EU and Africa will take the shape of eight ‘partenariats’ covering the areas of peace and security, democracy and human rights, trade and regional development, the millennium development goals, energy and climate change, migration, jobs and growth, and finally science, information society and space. The partnership has also set in motion the next summit, to be held in Libya in 2010.
Also in the FT is the news that rich nations have proposed poor countries remove their trade barriers on environmental goods to combat global warming at the UN's climate change talks in Bali.
Organisations such as Actionaid believe that EPAs are skewed in favour of rich countries and threaten to leave 750 million poor people worse off than ever.
www.actionaid.org.uk/1412/epas.html
europafrica.org/
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page last updated on 14.12.2007
