EU ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS (EPAs) WITH AFRICAN COUNTRIES

Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) provide for WTO-compliant agreements covering substantially all trade in goods (at least 80%) as well as services and investment and trade related rules with a view to fostering African countries integration into the world economy and promote sustainable development.

The European Commission has given an ultimatum to African countries : Countries that have not ratified an interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) as of 1st January 2014 will lose their preferential access and will fall under the Generalized System of Tariff Preferences of the EU that grants developing countries a preferential access to the European market but is less advantageous that under the Lomé regime. In other words, the EU would reestablish customs duties on the exports of African countries, except for the countries that are part of the WTO’s list of less advanced countries. These countries which include Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi,  Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mautinia, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zambia benefit from a special treatment by WTO and free tariff access to the European market.

It is not certain that the EU ultimatum will be respected. African countries have more to gain by a true regional integration rather than a free trade agreement with the European Union, while the WTO rules allow for more flexibility which is demanded by the European Commission in terms of liberalization. The divergences UE/African countries are likely to go on and the European free trade aspirations may push African countries further into the arms of emerging donors such as China and India which Europe increasingly dependent on external raw materials may bitterly regret.

The following African countries are currently negotiating for accession to WTO: Comores, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Sao Tome and Principe, Soudan and Yemen.

Status Report of EPAs Negotiations (September 2013)

West Africa

• Côte d’Ivoire: Interim EPA with the EU signed in 2008, not yet ratified.
• Ghana: Interim EPA not yet signed and not yet ratified

Central Africa

• Cameroon: Interim EPA for Central Africa signed in 2009, not yet ratified

Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA)

• Mauritius: Signed the Interim EPA, applied since May 2012, approved by the EP on 17/01/2013
• Seychelles: idem
• Zimbabwe: idem
• Madagascar: idem