May 26, 2003	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23,1424

BRUSSELS: The enlargement of the European Union next year will overstretch already limited resources for developing countries, say members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of states.

Ministers from 79 ACP countries, mainly-African, say that resources from the European Union (EU) are already being distributed to developing countries too slowly to be used effectively. They fear that under an enlarged EU the situation would deteriorate.

Discussing their concerns at a meeting of the ACP-EU Council of Ministers in Brussels, finance ministers and members of ACP governments said that the reform of the EU would have a negative impact on their own economies.

The meeting was co-chaired by Serge Rialuth Vohor, Vice-Prime Minister of Vanuatu and Anastasios Giannitsis, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece.

They said that essential reforms to EU institutions as a result of enlargement would further slow down the distribution of resources and funding.

The current 15-member EU is set to enlarge in May 2004 with the introduction of 10 new member states, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia.

EU institutions such as the European Commission, the executive arm of the 15-member grouping, are likely to be reformed as it accommodates the 10 new countries, their officials and staff.

ACP officials believe that this will lead to greater inefficiency and lesser transparency in the European Development Fund (EDF) committee.

ACP countries currently receive funding from the EU through the EDF, which was reformed in 2000 with the signing of the Contonou Agreement, a pact giving members of the ACP group a special trade status with the EU.

The ninth and current EDF has been allocated 13.5 billion euros (some 15.8 billion dollars) over a period of five years to spend on developing countries. In addition, there are unexpended balances from previous EDFs that total 9.9 billion euros (11.6 billion dollars).

Of the 79 ACP states, 40 are considered to be least developed countries (LDC) — these are countries with low-incomes and weak human resources. They are economically vulnerable and dependent on aid from the EU.

Speaking on behalf of the Commission, the EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Assistance, Poul Nielson, said that enlargement could in fact benefit ACP states.

“An improved market access will enhance trade possibilities with ACP countries, but we will launch an impact study to investigate the likely implication of EU enlargement,” said Nielson.

He added: “The new EU member states will also contribute to the tenth EDF, which will ultimately mean more money for developing countries.”

One official from the ACP Secretariat, who did not wish to be named, also identified “frequent changes to Commission regulations, the inexperience of delegation staff and the concentration of the decision-making process in Brussels” as further problems which will be magnified with enlargement.

He said that he was particularly concerned after seeing the effects that the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 had on the ACP states and fears that enlargement will have the same effect.

“After the Berlin Wall came down, the former Communist countries threw the baby out with the bath water. They disclaimed any idea of internationalism or of cooperation with countries in the South,” he said.

However, he hoped that an intensive dialogue between the two parties has led to a lesser degree of suspicion and apprehension on their part and expressed the hope that such problems could be overcome.

Another concern facing ACP member states is the effect that the Contonou Agreement will have on their countries.

They say that little attention has been paid to the exact role of the EU-ACP trade arrangements and insist that a “development dimension” must be at the heart of the trade negotiations so they can contribute to the eradication of poverty in the developing countries.

“The EU is mainly concerned about market structure, but this is not enough. Integration into the world economy is not enough either — we have to have the means to put production into practice,” said Robert Goulongnana, Secretary General of the ACP Group of countries at a meeting of the ACP Council of Ministers last week.

“The opening of the markets has to be matched with a strengthening of resources

so that we can increase our production levels. This is what we fought for at Doha,” he added.—Dawn/The InterPress News Service.