The European Parliament adopted a resolution tabled by the Committee on Development on the upcoming negotiations for a new Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the African Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, which are to start in August 2018 in anticipation of the expiry of the Cotonou Agreement in February 2020.
Parliament welcomed the main aspects and overall architecture of future cooperation between the ACP Group of States and the European Union proposed by the Commission. It noted that the Commission has largely taken into account Parliaments view and that the common foundation and regional compacts will be legally binding to an equal extent, as requested by Parliament. Political dialogue based on mutual respect is a fundamental part of the Cotonou Agreement and it must remain a central and legal pillar in the overarching framework and at the regional level of the new agreement. Parliament called for increased civil society involvement in political dialogue, programming and implementation and support for capacity-building by civil society.
Members insisted that the essential elements of the Cotonou Agreement respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, democratic principles and the rule of law, and good governance be maintained as the basis for cooperation post-2020 and be part and parcel of the foundation agreement and the regional compacts and protocols. They also insisted on the need to ensure coherence between the principles laid down in the common foundation and the regional priorities defined in the compacts.
Parliament felt that the common foundation should include;
It also made the following recommendations:
Lastly, Parliament considered that the parliamentary dimension of the ACP-EU partnership should be further reinforced, with its Joint Parliamentary Assembly dialogue between Members and their ACP counterparts at the core of the new partnership.