Do interim EPAs meet development needs?
The European Commission has pushed the envelope of the norm at the WTO and got ‘a little extra’ in the interim agreements (See Box 1). This needs to be corrected. One solution would be to refer to the basic language of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, and to define a short and clear list of development benchmarks that define the development dimension. Interim EPAs are unbalanced The Cotonou Partnership Agreement clearly stipulates that the EPA should promote, not undermine, regional integration. It also states that EPAs should help to overcome supply side constraints and support supply capacity to overcome low agricultural productivity. Moreover, it specifies that no country should be left worse off. However, interim EPAs are unbalanced and contain many sticks but few carrots. ACP countries are subject to penalties from the European Commission. At the same time there are doubts about ACP capacity to implement agreements and honour commitments. Restrictive rules are not in line with s
