How well does the Caribbean relate to the European Union? A region that still sees Europe as the source of development assistance, has not fully erased a belief in special arrangements for commodities and is dubious about the value of the Economic Partnership Agreement, there seems little awareness of the ways in which Europe is changing.
Last week in Brussels the Caribbean Tourism Organisation held its annual summit. This forward-looking and positive event, attended by ministers, ambassadors, Caricom and the private sector, was important as it sought to focus European and Caribbean minds on the significance of the tourism industry, when it comes to shaping future EU-Cariforum policy.
The dialogue covered areas as diverse as the environment, taxation, social policy, economic recovery and marketing; but what was also of interest was the way in which interlocutors on the European side demonstrated how significantly European thinking was changing.
Traditionally the relationship between Europe and the Caribbean was managed through a bilateral dialogue with the European Commission’s Development Directorate or multilaterally in conjunction with the African Caribbean and Pacific group of states (the ACP). However, this began to change in the 1990s when the trade aspects of the relationship were removed to Europe’s Trade Directorate. For a while the exchanges on trade issues were sympathetic if tough. However, as the personnel changed and more importantly Europe through the Trade Directorate sought ways to end the preferential arrangements with the ACP, EC officials with little sensitivity or knowledge of former colonial relationships began to prevail. The consequence was that the link between trade and development began to attenuate.
Later those with a belief in multilateral trade liberalisation and more used to the sometimes brutal bargaining in bilateral trade negotiations came to the fore as the then European Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, set about aggressively disaggregating the ACP through regional economic partnership agreements and the negotiation of new trade arrangements with nations in competition with the Caribbean.
All of which should have become strategically apparent to the Caribbean not long after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Then Europe began a drive for WTO compatibility, proposed the reform of its common agricultural policy, decided on a special trade agreement for the least developed nations, and stated its intention to level eventually its trade arrangements with all developing nations.
Instead the Caribbean fought, with moral and legal justification, but to an extent that at times suggested obsession, to keep arrangements for bananas and sugar when it was clear that OECD thinking had changed and the region needed to rapidly move on to encourage investment in services, value-added agriculture and make use of what remaining preferential market access it had.
What is now noticeable is that Europe is again adapting and tourism apart, the Caribbean, is largely still trailing in its policy wake. At recent meetings such as that on tourism, the range of European officials talking about policy issues that touch on the Caribbean’s interests had broadened. This means that directorates of the European Commission with which the region has little or no contact are now developing policy that touches on, often to a significant extent, the Caribbean’s long-term interests.
For example, senior officials from the Enterprise Directorate are taking decisions on tourism or are undertaking tariff negotiations that could change the competitiveness of Caribbean products such as rum. Elsewhere, the directorates responsible for climate and transport are engaged in developing policies on aviation and shipping that will result in a heavier burden of tax on travel to the Caribbean. The Development Directorate and Europe Aid have been merged, giving the sense that the aid administrators rather than the policy-makers are in charge. And a new body, the European External Action Service, potentially of great significance to the Caribbean, has been created, to manage all foreign relationships.
At another level the European Parliament has begun to develop its voice. Following the signing of the Lisbon Treaty and the creation of new decision-making procedures, the European Parliament, its members, committees and rapporteurs are now better able to influence and even overturn European Commission thinking on a wide range of issues. This means that it is no longer possible for the Caribbean to rely on a few friendly British Members of the European Parliament. Rather the region needs to actively make friends in the Parliament across all twenty-seven member states and the five principal political parties represented if it is to ever have any influence on the Parliament’s co-decision making powers with Europe’s member states.
In Brussels it is also apparent that the Caribbean needs to engage more rapidly in establishing and convening the institutions that will govern the EU-Cariforum Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) as these will in effect provide a parallel system of governance for Europe’s relationship with the Caribbean through a range of joint institutions at the level of ministers, officials, parliamentarians and civil society.
What is also clear was that there are a number of policy initiatives underway in Europe that will materially touch the Caribbean’s long-term interests. Of these the most important, yet virtually unheard of or discussed in the Caribbean, is the drafting of a strategic partnership agreement between the Caribbean and Europe. This political text is intended to govern the way in which the EU and its institutions will interact with the region at all levels.
Beyond the almost impenetrable European jargon, it seems that what is envisaged is a document establishing strategic political, economic and social priorities and a basis for dialogue to better synchronise priorities and objectives and to establish mechanisms through which future policy can be delivered.
There are also other EU policy debates underway that will have an impact on the Caribbean.
Space does not allow me to go into detail but one of at least three others of significance is the development of the next stage of the EU’s sustainable development strategy. This will seek to internationalise Europe’s approach towards the creation of a low-carbon economy and will touch on everything from agriculture to energy and development assistance.
European thinking continues to evolve. The Caribbean needs to engage now at all levels.
Previous columns can be found at www.caribbean-council.org
