Director-General Stefano Manservisi on the Future of EU-ACP Cooperation

The Cotonou Agreement which governs relations between the European Union and 78 countries from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) will expire in February 2020. How could the relationship evolve? In the following interview, Stefano Manservisi, Director-General of DEVCO (the Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development) discusses the shared interests which will guide cooperation and outlines a new basis for partnership founded on regional pillars.

Capacity4dev (C4D): The current partnership agreement with the countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific expires in February 2020. What are the Commission and the High Representative proposing to shape future relations between the EU and ACP?

Director-General Stefano Manservisi (SM): The partnership with the ACP is the oldest one the EU has with the largest group of developing countries in the world, going back to the late 1960s, and formally set up in Lomé in 1975. Then, it was the most advanced partnership between a group of developed countries, as we used to say at the time, and developing countries. Concepts in the Consensus today like ownership, partnership, co-decision, respect for each other, and solidarity, were already embedded in the Lomé Convention. Therefore, there is something powerful in thinking about what next.

Some identify this with an old colonial scheme. Well, the origin is of course what has been called special relations; that was the starting point. Maybe precisely because of that starting point, over the last few decades we have developed a specific relationship which has been at the forefront of development and political partnerships with this group of countries.

It is also true that this model is under stress, because for too long it has been a partnership for spending money. And this is not sustainable any more. Therefore we’ll propose to our ACP friends that we think strategically together, set up political objectives together, and set up procedures which are much more effective than those we have today, which are cumbersome, lengthy, and bureaucratic. And then, and only then, we can talk about money. Because money is a function of our agreement in political terms, in terms of objectives.

At the same time, our experience has shown that the ACP is a powerful umbrella, but it is increasingly creating some problems when dealing with the regional groups within it. For example we are dealing with Africa partially under the Neighbourhood policy, for Northern Africa; and partially under the ACP scheme. Our proposal will address precisely this.

Regional pillars

What we hope for is a new partnership based on common values, rules, and principles, which are valid for everybody, but then to develop regional pillars for Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific in which we can deal with the specificity of each group. It will also enable cooperation with other countries, which belong to the same regions but are not part of the ACP group.

For example, we have a Joint Strategy with the African Union, which covers the whole continent. Morocco has applied to join, in order to underline the importance of Africa being one.

It’s the same thing in the Caribbean; we have to create more inclusive dynamics with the countries of Latin America and in particular Central America. And in the Pacific, we have to consolidate our work with two important partners of the EU, Australia and New Zealand, and also open up to other South East Asian countries which are very interested in working together in that area of the world.

C4D: Are European interests in this partnership well represented in light of current challenges?

SM: The new partnership is based on shared objectives, and European interests are fully on the table and will, I hope, be transformed into shared objectives. When we say European interests, we mean stabilising the world, promoting democracy, creating conditions for sustainable development, promoting justice, and implementing the climate change agenda.

We cannot imagine we have interests which can be defined, promoted and implemented alone. We must realise that, for example, migratory pressures which are not managed but which are the result of fears of poverty, or manipulation of traffickers, are a common objective. We are working to define these objectives together, like the fight against terrorism and our common security. Our shared interest is to create better living conditions everywhere in the world in order to have a world which has a future. I think we need to discuss these interests with our partners, and at the end to discover that we have one agenda, and therefore to set up one partnership to deliver this agenda.

When people live together under the same roof for several decades, sometimes routines take over. We have to take a moment to rethink and go back to the fundamentals - why we are doing this together. Why the biggest and still richest group of the North, as we used to say, the EU Member States, and the biggest group of the South, the ACP countries, should sit together and contribute to setting an agenda for a better world in the framework of the Agenda 2030. I think that is the challenge, but I’m confident that at the end we will discover that these interests are mutual.

C4D: How well will this new relationship promote better integration for ACP partners, in light of recent Joint Regional strategies that the European Union has signed bilaterally with Africa and the Caribbean?

Video in French:

Further reading

To hear Director-General Stefano Manservisi's views on the new Consensus for Development, click here.