Mar 28
At the beginning of March, political and labour union representatives from six African countries on a visit to five European capitals in March 2009 have told their hosts that ‘in Africa, the economic and financial crisis has already turned into a food crisis, and EPAs will make it worse..’
According to this report, delegations of parliamentarians and civil society leaders from six African countries were set to visit the capitals of five leading EU countries to appeal directly to their parliamentarians about the EPAs.
“˜”˜Most African parliaments have not been included in these negotiations,”™”™ says Jean-Denis Crola, responsible for the economic justice campaign with Oxfam France. “˜”˜There is also a strong demand for larger involvement of civil society in these negotiations, as in some countries, 80 percent of the labour force are agricultural workers,”™”™ he adds.
I wonder if the Africans are’nt showing us how to do it. Was there anything to prevent Caribbean parliamentarians from mounting a delegation to Europe last year, before the EPA was signed, to protest the unfair conditions being imposed on the region under the Cariforum EPA?
Or is is that Caribbean parliamentarians, unlike those from Africa, were fully involved in the EPA negotiations and are happy with the outcome? In that case, why was the EPA opposed by Opposition Parties in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, St Lucia and Antigua and Barbuda, and at a Public Consultation in Guyana; not to speak of opposition from across a broad spectrum of civil society?
Maybe its not too late. The Mandatory Review inserted into the EPA and supported by the European Parliament provides an opportunity for a comprehensive review and renegotiation of the EPA, with involvement of parliamentarians and civil society leaders. Will they take advantage of it?