Bibliography

Bibliography: EU-ACP / developing world / poverty

Amongst the most significant developments and texts are:

Title XX of the Treaty Establishing the European Community concerns development cooperation. Article 177 states:
1. Community policy in the sphere of development cooperation, which shall be complementary to the policies pursued by the Member States, shall foster:
- the sustainable economic and social development of the developing countries, and more particularly the most disadvantaged among them;
- the smooth and gradual integration of the developing countries into the world economy;
- the campaign against poverty in the developing countries.

1960: the European Development Fund was established, initially to finance assistance to Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) and later to the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states under the Lomé Conventions. The EDF is funded directly by Member States, not by the general Community budget.

1964: development assistance was agreed for 17 African countries and Madagascar - all former colonies of the six EC Member States - under the Yaoundé Convention.

1975: the ACP was established by the Georgetown Agreement.

1975: the Yaoundé Convention was incorporated into the Lomé Convention - a framework agreement which extended cooperation to the 46 members of the ACP. Lomé I (1975-1980) and Lomé II (1980-1985) were primarily geared to promoting industrial development; Lomé III (1985-1990) focused more on establishing self-sufficiency and food security; Lomé IV (1990-2000) emphasised human rights, democracy and good governance, the position of women, environmental protection, decentralised cooperation, economic diversification and the private sector. (Details of the Lomé agreements can be found via this page).

1996: preliminary discussions on a successor to Lomé IV took place in the context of the 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.

1997: based on the Green Paper, Guidelines for the negotiation of new co-operation agreements with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (COM(1997)537) were produced.

1997: the European Union started lobbying for a new trade agreement, under the aegis of the World Trade Organization, calling for trade liberalisation to take account of the specific needs of developing countries, and for agreement on capacity building for LDCs. However, negotiations at the WTO's Third Ministerial Conference, held in Seattle at the end of 1999, failed.

1998: negotiations on a successor to Lomé IV formally started in September 1998.

1999: on 26 October 1999 the Commission published a Communication on debt relief for Highly Indebted Poor Countries.

2000: on 23 June 2000 the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement (the Cotonou Agreement) was signed in Cotonou , Benin .

2001: 1 January 2001 the EuropeAid Co-operation Office replaced the Common Service for External Relations. Its first annual report was published as Report on the Implementation of the European Commission External Assistance. Situation at 01/01/01. The Annual Report 2001 (COM(2002)490) was published in September 2002. The effectiveness of EU aid is monitored by an Evaluation Unit.

2001: February 2001 Everything but Arms (EbA) initiative adopted - a liberalisation programme under which exporters from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) should gain free access to EU markets for most of their products by 2005. (ACP-EU Courier: Everything But Arms: free access for imports from Least Developed Countries).

2001: WTO trade talks resumed at the Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha , Qatar , in November 2001. The Doha Development Agenda was agreed, with negotiations due to end by January 2005.

2002: a meeting in Fiji intended to prepare the ground for negotiations with the European Commission on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) issued the Nadi Declaration, expressing concern that most ACP countries had not benefited from globalisation. In September 2002, sub-groups of the ACP met with the European Commission to open discussions on Economic Partnership Agreements for the period 2002-2007.

2003: the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the WTO, held in Cancún , Mexico , in September 2003, ended without agreement.

Other useful sources include:

EU websites and documents

European Commission: DG Development
Homepage

Topics
Countries and regions
EU & Africa
Publications
ACP-EU Courier magazine
European Development Fund (Monthly Bulletin)

European Commission: DG Trade
Homepage

Publications
Policy & issue papers
Trade issues

European Parliament
Homepage
ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly
Committee on Development and Cooperation
Fact Sheets: General Development Aid Policy

A general survey of development policy
The Community's generalized system of preferences (GSP)
Financial and technical aid
Humanitarian aid
Food aid and food security
The special arrangements for the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, from the Yaoundé and Lomé Conventions to the Cotonou Agreement

European Court of Auditors
Homepage

Annual Report concerning the financial year 1998 ... Report on the activities of the sixth, seventh and eighth European Development Funds

Annual Report concerning the financial year 1999 ... Report on the activities of the sixth, seventh and eighth European Development Funds, together with the institutions' replies

Annual Report concerning the financial year 2000 … Report on the sixth, seventh and eighth European Development Funds (EDFs)

Annual Report concerning the financial year 2001 … Report on the activities of the sixth, seventh and eighth European Development Funds, together with the institutions' replies

Special Report No 7/98 in respect of the European Community Development Aid Programme regarding South Africa (1986-1996) accompanied by the replies of the Commission

Special Report No 24/98 concerning risk capital operations financed from the resources of the European Development Funds, together with the Commission's replies

Special Report No 4/99 concerning financial aid to overseas countries and territories under the sixth and seventh EDF accompanied by the replies of the Commission

Special Report No 10/03 concerning the effectiveness of the Commission’s management of development assistance to India in targeting the poor and ensuring sustainable benefits, together with the Commission’s replies

Organisations, groups, networks

ACP Secretariat
Homepage
Official ACP Declarations and other important documents

ACP-EU-trade - "A non-partisan source of information, documents and links on ACP-EU trade matters"
Homepage
Documents and bibliography