Background information
The Lomé System is the direct predecessor of the Cotonou Agreement. However, the origin of the ACP-EU partnership dates even back to the colonial times. In the following focal points of the historical development of the relationship between Africa and the EU will be delineated.
Cooperation previous to the Lomé System
Treaty of Rome (1957)
France made the association of its African colonies with the European Economic Community (EEC) a condition of signing the Treaty of Rome.
The EEC was requested to take on an established system of reciprocal trade preferences and to support their development effort
The EEC’s new external commitments led to the establishment of the European Development Fund (EDF)
Yaoundé Conventions (1963-75)
Recognizing the independence of the African countries, the relationship was reformulated through the two associational agreements (Yaoundé I, 1963-69/ Yaoundé II, 1969-75).
Georgetown Agreement (1975)
The Georgetown Agreement established the ACP Group.
The Lomé System
Membership of the United Kingdom to the EEC in 1973 led to the signing of a new generation of conventions, the Lomé Agreements.
The Lome Systems is composed of 4 successive Lomé Agreements, which cover over 25 years of development cooperation. The cooperation was revised and adapted to the changes of the international environment every five years.
The Lomé agreements added various innovative elements to the cooperation. One of the most outstanding achievements was the creation of a set of shared cooperation principles such as the equality of the partners, dialogue, contractually agreed rights and obligations, the predictability of aid flows and the joint administration of the cooperation.
Regarding the trade relations, Lomé replaced the system of reciprocal trade preferences by a system of non-reciprocal trade preferences. The access of the African countries to the European market was however limited.
After the Cold War the cooperation that was hitherto mainly focused on economic issues developed in addition a political dimension. Since the 1990s human rights and democracy have gained importance in the cooperation with the ACP countries. In 1995 both aspects were incorporated in an “essential elements” clause. The clause is backed by a suspension mechanism, meaning that a violation of these elements could lead to a partial or total suspension of EU aid.
Expiry of the Lomé IV Agreement and establishment of the Cotonou Agreement
The expiry of the Lomé IV convention preceded a broad public debate about the future of the ACP-EU partnership.
Criticism was raised concerning the disappointing results of the Lomé cooperation, which were seen from trends, such as:
- the decline of the EDF’s share of EU overall aid commitments from 50% in 1990 to 33%, in view of an increasing number of ACP members;
- the decline of the ACP share in EU’s market from 6.7% in 1976 to 3% in 1998 (60% of the total ACP export concentrate on only 10 products);
- the difficulty of the ACP least developed countries (LDCs)1 to benefit from the general rise of foreign direct investment flows to developing countries;
- the rise of poverty in many ACP countries.
139 countries of the ACP group are classified as LDCs. Page 4 Finding your way through the Cotonou Agreement
These trends actually called the efficiency of the ACP-EU cooperation into question. Even the dissolving of the heterogeneous ACP group was considered. Despite all criticism the ACP-EU cooperation was continued. It was however emphasized that the cooperation needed to adapt to the new geostrategic situation and the processes of globalization. Against this background, the Lomé Agreements were replaced by the Cotonou Agreement.
Many authors assert the novelty of the Cotonou Agreement whereas others lament the continuation of old procedures under a new name. Whether the Cotonou Agreement stands indeed for change or whether it is just a continuation of the old is left to the scrutiny of the critical observer.