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The relations between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states are a particularly important aspect of the EU development cooperation policy and, more widely, of its external action.
From 1975 until 2000 these relations were governed by the regularly adapted and updated Lomé Convention. However, major upheavals on the international stage, socio-economic and political changes in the ACP countries, the spreading of poverty, resulting in instability and potential conflict, all highlighted the need for a re-thinking of cooperation.
The February 2000 expiration of the Lomé Convention provided an ideal opportunity for a thorough review of the future of ACP-EU relations. Against a background of an intensive public debate, based on a Commission Green paper (1996)* and a discussion paper**, negotiations started in September 1998 and were successfully concluded in early February 2000. The new ACP-EU agreement was signed on 23rd of June 2000 in Cotonou, Benin between the European Union and 77 countries from the ACP and was concluded for a twenty-year period from March 2000 to February 2020.
The Cotonou Agreement is a global and exemplary Agreement, introducing radical changes and ambitious objectives while preserving the 'acquis' of 25 years of ACP-EU cooperation. The overall objective of the Agreement is to reduce and eventually eradicate poverty while contributing to sustainable development and to the gradual integration of ACP countries into the world economy. It is based on five interdependent pillars: an enhanced political dimension; increased participation; a more strategic approach to cooperation focusing on poverty reduction; new economic and trade partnerships; and improved financial cooperation.
Compared with the previous Lomé Conventions, the new framework for cooperation puts much more emphasis on the political dimensions of development and fosters a pluralistic approach to partnership. This, in turn, opens a range of new opportunities to support democratic decentralisation processes as well as the involvement of ACP local government actors. The new Cotonou Agreement indeed promotes: participatory development (Art 2); a multi-actors perspective (Art 6-58); political dialogue (Art 8-9); decentralisation (Art 33); social development (Art 25) and the institutionalisation of decentralised cooperation (Art 70-71).
Alongside the Agreement is a financial protocol. Covering each five-year period, this indicates the total resources that are available to the ACP through the European Development Fund (EDF) and channelled through two instruments:
· Grants to support long-term development (through the national and regional indicative programmes [NIP/RIP], and Intra-ACP fund)
· The Investment Facility.
The Cotonou Agreement provides for a revision clause which foresees that the Agreement is adapted every five years. The 1st revision of the Agreement in June 2005 further clarified the recognition of local government as a distinct and key actor and partner in development cooperation (Art 4) that is eligible for EDF funds (Art 58).
In this new context of development policy and practice, local government are entitled / encouraged to participate in the ACP-EU cooperation processes, such as in: programming (resource allocation); implementation of projects and programmes; evaluation and monitoring; capacity development; access to financial resources; participation in development cooperation, trade and political cooperation. In addition, it calls upon local government to play a key role in the fight against poverty, the effective delivery of social services within the framework of the sector wide approach (SWAP), the promotion of local economic development, and the consolidation of democratic values and practices.
Since 2000, the EC supports local governance in ACP countries in the fields of decentralisation and decentralised cooperation. The community support concentrates in particular on the institutional support for the improvement of the political, judicial and legal framework of the decentralisation process and on the process of capacity building of the central, regional and local levels.
In recognising local government as key development actors, the Agreement provides support in 5 main clusters:
· Institutional development and capacity building: support to the formulation and execution of decentralisation policies; building capacity of local authorities to elaborate and implement development policy and projects; budget support to local government.
· Decentralisation of services: support to the decentralisation of services in the health, education, sanitation or transport sector; building local authority capacity to deliver, manage and maintain services.
· Rural development: capacity building to improve rural government structures’ ability to promote participatory community planning and rural economic development.
· Decentralised cooperation: micro-projects supporting local economic development, urban development, community participation or support to decentralised stakeholders, including local authorities.
· Good governance: institutional support to local authorities, enforcement of decentralisation processes, territorial development.
With all these opportunities, one can say that time has come for local government to be integrated into ACP-EU cooperation processes, much alike what happened with other non state actors few years ago. The political climate is ripe for such a move. Undoubtedly, there is still a long way to go before this integration will be smoothly and effectively institutionalised. Yet the first building blocks of a partnership with ACP local government have been put in place, including incipient mechanisms for dialogue as well as specific support programmes. Local government themselves are wakening up to the challenge of ‘fighting for their legitimate place’ in ACP-EU cooperation, including through appropriate forms of representation at national, regional and global level.
These opportunities should facilitate local government involvement in the formulation, implementation and review of ACP-EU cooperation strategies and programmes. However in practice, most local government associations have been absent in the negotiation process of the Cotonou Agreement and its recent revision. This is mainly due to their institutional weaknesses and because they lack the structures to defend their interests in the specific framework of ACP-EU cooperation.
On the other hand, local government are responsible for delivering public services at local level, to improve people’s quality of life and contribute to combating poverty. However, most local authorities and their associations do not have the capacity to play this crucial role, and this often impacts negatively on their legitimacy. Because of this and the relatively weak institutional structures of most local governments, local government has to date not engaged effectively in the ACP-EU development dialogue and the implementation of development cooperation measures.
Providing local government with the necessary capacity at ACP as well as at national/regional level, will ensure that local government can be a true partner alongside other state and non-state actors and make a significant contribution to the development agenda, including the reduction of poverty and key international development targets.
Therefore, if properly supported and capacitated, local government can make an important contribution to the key objectives of the Cotonou Agreement as well as other international development goals (such as MDGs). Their added-value mainly resides in their capacity to act as a ‘catalyst’ of local development processes.
The 2nd revision of the Cotonou Agreement takes place from March 2009 to March 2010. It will be an opportunity for ACP local government and other non state actors to advocate for:
· Improved provisions for better access of local government to EDF financing; and
· Improved provisions for better and simpler access procedures for local government.
The conclusions of the revision will be adopted at the joint ACP-EC Council of Ministers of June 2010.
* COM(96)570 final of 20 November 1996 "Green Paper on relations between the European union and the ACP countries on the eve of the 21st century - challenges and options for a new partnership".
** COM(97)537 final of 29 October 1997 "Guidelines for the negotiation of new cooperation agreements with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries".
Revised Cotonou Agreement: