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There is profound concern in large circles in Africa that the Cotonou Agreement obstructs African governments from supporting domestic production, and that the EU is splitting Africa in two by striking separate deals with different African regions. These perceptions are important considerations for those involved in the upcoming negotiations to replace the existing agreement.

With the Cotonou Agreement due to expire in 2020, formal negotiations towards a new partnership agreement between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states began in September 2018. Based on the acceptance of the EU's negotiating mandate, the new arrangement will be primarily organised via three specific regional protocols with each of the ACP regions. Meanwhile, the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) launched in 2007, has seen the African Union (AU) gain increased prominence as an institutional partner of the EU. Given its ambitious pan-African agenda, it adopted an alternative 'African' vision for future EU-ACP relations, to the mandate agreed by the ACP states and expressed a willingness to become directly involved in the negotiations. This article contributes an important new case-study to the existing literature on 'African agency' in international politics by considering the scope for Africa to exert agency within the post-Cotonou negotiations, given the negotiation of a specific regional compact with Africa. It adopts a structurally embedded view of agency, based on Cox's understanding of historical structures, as a fit between institutions, ideas and material relations. The central argument is that, in comparison to the negotiation of the Cotonou Agreement two decades ago, there is greater scope for African agency. However, both the ideational and material aspects of Africa's relationship with the EU, condition the limits to how effective such agency might be. Moreover, tensions at the institutional level between the ACP and AU further undermine the potential for effective African agency.

The present study analyses the use of the political instruments for the protection of Human Rights, democracy and the rule of law under the Partnership Agreement between the European Union (EU) and the African-Caribbean–Pacific (ACP) countries embedded in the Cotonou Agreement: the consultations under article 96, intensified and regular political dialogue. It briefly outlines the legal provisions of the revised treaty, reviews recent practice, and looks into the involvement of civil society and parliamentary bodies in the political dialogue.

The negotiation of post-Lome economic cooperation arrangements between the European Union and the African-Caribbean-Pacific Group ended its first phase in February 2000 with the signing of the Treaty of Cotonou. For Caribbean actors, the Cotonou negotiations marked a significant watershed in the adaptation of their foreign policies and diplomatic strategies to cope with a globalized international environment. The issues and themes addressed in Cotonou demonstrate the collision of development concepts forged in the 1970s with the Neoliberalism of the 1980s and 1990s. Cotonou symbolizes the transition from one economic order to another. Its negotiation involved the establishment of new diplomatic and administrative structures in the Caribbean and the participation of many interest groups not previously involved in such diplomatic activity. It became the forerunner to even more complex negotiations in the World Trade Organization and the free Trade Area of the Americas. This paper explores the Caribbean role and experiences in the negotiation of the Cotonou Treaty and the lessons of this diplomatic exercise for future multilateral trade negotiations. Resumen: Tocando en la misma cuerda: La diplomacia caribeña y el acuerdo de CotonouLa negociación de los acuerdos de cooperación económica tras los acuerdos de Lome entre la Unión Europea y el Grupo África-Caribe-Pacífico concluyó su primera fase en febrero de 2000 con la firma del Tratado de Cotonou. Para los participantes caribeños, las negociaciones de Cotonou señalaron un importante y crítico momento en la adaptación de sus políticas exteriores y estrategias diplomáticas para funcionar en un ambiente internacional globalizado. Los problemas y temas tratados en Cotonou reflejan el choque de conceptos de desarrollo forjados en los años setenta, con el neoliberalismo de los años ochenta y noventa. Cotonou simboliza la transición de un orden económico a otro. Su negociación implicó el establecimiento de nuevas estructuras diplomáticas y administrativas en el Caribe y la incorporación de muchos grupos de interés que no participaban previamente en esas actividades diplomáticas. Se convirtió en el precursor de negociaciones todavía más complejas en la Organización Mundial del Comercio y el Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas. En este artículo exploramos el papel y experiencias del Caribe en la negociación del Tratado de Cotonou y las lecciones aprendidas en este ejercicio diplomático para futuras negociaciones comerciales multilaterales.

The EU is currently negotiating a successor to its Cotonou Agreement of year 2000 with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states. The political and economic con­text has changed enormously over the past two decades, with trade relations between the EU and the more developed ACP countries now largely regulated by bilateral and regional Economic Partnership Agreements. Since 2015, in line with international sustainability targets, social and environmental aspects must be taken into account in international treaties, while in 2018 the African Union (AU) agreed to establish an African Continental Free Trade Area. A successor to Cotonou offers an opportunity to modernise the rules on issues including investment, services and migration. This could also generate greater interest in the talks in Germany and the EU. But the cooperation need to be placed on a new foundation and the African states will have to decide whether they want to negotiate together, as a continent.

The Cotonou Agreement is the European Union's most important legal measure in the field of development assistance covering 79 developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP countries). It empowers the European Union to sanction 'serious cases of corruption' where this corruption is related to economic and sectoral policies and programmes to which the European Union is a significant financial partner. During the negotiations leading to the adoption of the Cotonou Agreement the ACP countries strongly objected to the inclusion of the possibility of sanctioning corruption. In practice the European Union has only sanctioned one single case of corruption under the provision, however. Whereas this does not necessarily mean that the sanctioning clause is without an impact, the fact that sanctions have been imposed in only one situation is a strong indication that its impact is rather limited. It is suggested that more effective means of preventing corruption are considered.

The role of the Cotonou Agreement during the negotiation of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States has been well studied. This paper analyses the inverse of this relationship, namely the legal and political implications of different possible outcomes of the upcoming post-Cotonou negotiations on the EPAs, following the expiry of the Cotonou Agreement in 2020. The EPAs include several cross-references to provisions in the Cotonou Agreement on development and human rights. This paper analyses the legal and political implications for the EPAs of possible negotiation outcomes, including combinations of regional or non-legally binding cooperation agreements. Its main conclusion is that a decision not to renew the Cotonou Agreement would have significant political implications but, contrary to the views of some EU stakeholders, limited legal implications for the EPAs.

Introduction: This paper attempts to discuss the EU's external relations with the Developing World within the context of the Cotonou Agreement and the CFSP. While CFSP and Cotonou operate formally under distinct and autonomous mechanisms, it is argued here that despite this pillarisation of policy spheres and the narrow definition of EU foreign affairs, development policy forms a core element in EU foreign policy and is linked, consequently, to a broader understanding of CFSP. The paper falls into two parts: one locating the context within which EU development policy might be discussed; the other discussing the actual development policy reforms since 2000. Part one addresses a series of questions. First, the appropriate theoretical context for discussing EU development policy is debated. Second, the linkages between development policy and CFSP are examined. And third, the very basis of an EU development policy is considered in relation to the principle of subsidiarity. Part two examines the motivations behind the reform of EU development policy, discusses the central policy innovations proposed, and concludes by exploring the potential areas of future policy conflict that might arise. Undoubtedly, these are ambitious objectives in such a limited space: however, only by marrying the wider perspectives of CFSP, integration and subsidiarity with an empirical analysis of the Cotonou Agreement, can the topic be adequately contextualized. As the paper concludes, development policy does not stand in splendid isolation, but is part of the network of integration processes that shape EU policy and decision-making.

This paper aims to examine and evaluate the relationship between the EU and ACP countries from the Lomé Conventions to the current Cotonou Agreement, and, in particular, the new Economic Partnership Agreements which will affect the ACP countries by far more than the European Union. This paper is structured as following: At first, a short overview about the development of the trade relations between the European Community and later on the European Union and the ACP-countries will be shown. Further on, the main reasons for the changed development policy will be shown as well as the success of the Lomé era will be evaluated. In the fourth and fifth part the current situation of the trade negotiations, i. e. trade relations under the Cotonou Agreement, and the future Economic Partnership Agreements as well as their expected impact on the ACPs seen from the different perspectives views and expectations expressed by the European Union on the one hand, and by the Non-Governmental-Organizations (NGOs) and the ACP countries on the other hand - will be examined and evaluated as far as possible at the moment.

The European Union is currently negotiating free trade agreements, called Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), with African countries as part of the Cotonou Agreement between the European Union and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. The paper empirically assesses the impact of the EPAs on trade flows and government revenue for 14 West African countries. The results indicate that the decline in import duties due to the preferential tariff elimination might be of some cause for concern and that complementary fiscal and economic policies have to be implemented before or at the time the EPAs come into force.

Trade is a key element of the development policy of the European Union (EU). As the most important trading partner of developing countries, the EU attempts to facilitate the participation of developing countries in global trade and contribute to economic growth through providing market access and financial assistance. For twenty-five years, the commitment of the EU was largely focused on its former colonies, more specifically in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP). The developing world, in terms of the EU's trade policy, was therefore divided between ACP states with special provisions under the Lomé Conventions and all other developing countries. With the new millennium, this special relationship came to an end. Pressure from several member states1 and the World Trade Organization (WTO) led to an overhaul of the EU's trade regime vis-à-vis developing countries and to the loss of the privileged position of ACP countries. The result of this overhaul is still pending. Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) – to be negotiated between the EU and several ACP regions – have only been realized in the Caribbean. This article will to examine the negotiations between the EU and West Africa and discuss the interests involved on the African side. Following the introduction, the second part of this article is dedicated to the Lomé Conventions with a focus on the change occurring from the third to the fourth revision in order to understand the current situation. The third part is going to take a look at the Cotonou agreement and the trade regime of the EU in general before turning to the negotiations for an Economic Partnership Agreement between the EU and West Africa. The conclusion summarizes the main findings.

Over the years EU aid has been much discussed - and criticized. Besides the accusations of being old fashioned, slow and bureaucratic there is also the complexity of a close neighbourship with the EU's foreign policy in general, trade and the eternal question for Europe of what to do as a community, and what to do as individual member states. This study cuts through this discussion by simply asking what works and why. Based on a somewhat exclusive version of participant observation the author describes the features that are distinct for EU aid and arrives at the conclusion, that thanks to a reform effort that mainstreamed EU aid these distinct features have become key assets.

The Cotonou Agreement introduces new fundamental principles with respect to trade between the European Union and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries relative to the Lomé Convention: in particular non-reciprocal preferential market access for ACP economies will only last until 1 January 2008. After that date, it will be replaced by a string of Economic Partnership Agreements meant to progressively liberalise trade in a reciprocal way. The progressive removal of barriers to trade is expected to result in the establishment of Free Trade Agreements between the EU and ACP regional groups in accordance with the relevant WTO rules and help further existing regional integration efforts among the ACP. In this paper, an applied general equilibrium model (15 regions, 9 sectors) is used to simulate the impact of EPAs for countries of the Southern African Development Community. The standard Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model has been extended to include the elimination of textile quotas, EU enlargement to 25 members as well as tax revenue sharing and a common external tariff among Southern African Customs Union countries. A number of comparisons between different scenarios are undertaken, in particular: (i) the EPA scenario is compared to the multilateral liberalization scenario; (ii) SADC liberalization with the EU only is compared to a scenario with simultaneous regional integration among African economies and to the case of the EU also signing an FTA with Mercosur; and (iii) a complete reduction of import barriers is contrasted with partial liberalization (i.e. only 50 per cent tariff reductions in agriculture) and with full trade liberalization that includes the elimination of subsidies. The issue of tariff revenue loss is also addressed and the required tax replacement is calculated. Selected experiments are re-run under an unemployment closure. Simulation results show that EPAs with the EU are welfare-enhancing for SADC overall, leading also to substantive increases in real GDP. For most countries further gains may arise from intra-SADC liberalization. The possibility of the EU entering an FTA with other countries, such as Mercosur, reduces estimated gains, but they still remain largely positive. Similarly, estimated gains need to be revised downwards if agriculture liberalization is not as far reaching as a reduction of import barriers for manufactures. At the sectoral level, the largest expansions in SADC economies take place in the animal agriculture and processed food sectors, while manufacturing becomes comparatively less attractive following EU-SADC liberalization. Interestingly, multilateral liberalization would instead foster some of the manufacturing sectors (textile and clothing and light manufacturing). Results also show the need for the SACU tariff pooling formula to be adjusted to reflect new import patterns as tariffs are removed.

The European Union has a long history of relations with Africa and Africa has always been a strategic partner for the European Union. Today, however, the European Union's relations with Africa are at a crossroads and the partnership needs to undergo a profound and rapid change. In order to properly investigate this research problem and to address its research questions concerning the future of the EU-Africa partnership, it is demonstrated that the time has come for change and redefinition of the partnership. Therefore, the overall aim of the article is to provide an insight into the EU's new partnership with Africa, to explore its complex, fragmented nature and scope, actors, legal bases, constitutive elements and different ways both sides are going to present the new agreement to their respective constituencies. The way this research is pursued combines a number of methods. It involves textual analysis of primary sources – the instruments regulating the EU's relations with Africa, secondary sources, documentary analysis as well as comparative, contextual and historical analysis. The complexities facing the EU and its African partners encourage curiosity and reflection about the new partnership. The article strongly emphasizes that the EU-Africa partnership does not stand still. It is a process of ever closer partnership. It has evolved from a relatively limited scale into a comprehensive system of normative instruments and institutions. And it has bifurcated into EU-ACP and EU-AU partnerships and today both partnerships are being re-negotiated. The likelihood of the negotiations being completed successfully, optimistically, by the end of 2020, remains open. It is our overall conclusion and prediction that the EU-Africa partnership will be enhanced and move a step closer to an integrated, comprehensive partnership, an effective framework for EU-AU relations. ; Unia Europejska ma długą historię stosunków i strategicznego partnerstwa z Afryką. Dziś jednak stosunki Unii Europejskiej z Afryką są na rozdrożu, a ich partnerstwo musi ulec głębokiej i szybkiej transformacji. Aby właściwie zbadać ten problem badawczy i odpowiedzieć na pytania badawcze dotyczące przyszłości partnerstwa Unii Europejskiej z Afryką, artykuł dowodzi, że nadszedł czas na jego zmianę i redefinicję. Głównym celem tego artykułu jest identyfikacja nadrzędnych ram nowego partnerstwa UE z Afryką, analiza jego elementów konstytutywnych, złożonego charakteru i zakresu, aktorów, podstaw prawnych, i pozycji negocjacyjnych stron nowego partnerstwa. Badania prowadzono z wykorzystaniem wielu metod badawczych, przede wszystkim analizy tekstowej źródeł podstawowych – dokumentów regulujących stosunki UE z Afryką, literatury, analizy dokumentalnej, a także analizy porównawczej, kontekstualnej i historycznej. Trudności przed jakimi stoją negocjatorzy Unii Europejskiej i ich afrykańscy partnerzy, których oczekiwania są często dramatycznie rozbieżne, rodzą ciekawość i refleksję na temat nowego partnerstwa. Autorzy wychodzą z założenia, że partnerstwo Unii Europejskiej z Afryką jest procesem i nie stoi w miejscu. Jest to proces coraz ściślejszego związku, który stopniowo przekształcił się w kompleksowy system instrumentów i instytucji i podzielił się na dwa równoległe partnerstwa – partnerstwo Unii Europejskiej z państwami Afryki, Karaibów i Pacyfiku i partnerstwo Unii Europejskiej z Unią Afrykańską. Oba te partnerstwa są dzisiaj przedmiotem ponownych negocjacji, a prawdopodobieństwo pomyślnego zakończenia negocjacji do końca 2020 roku pozostaje zdaniem autorów pod znakiem zapytania. Niemniej jednak naszym ogólnym wnioskiem i prognozą jest, że partnerstwo Unii Europejskiej z Afryką zostanie wzmocnione i zbliży się o krok do zintegrowanego, kompleksowego partnerstwa i skutecznych ram dla stosunków Unii Europejskiej z Unią Afrykańską.

The European Union has a long history of relations with Africa and Africa has always been a strategic partner for the European Union. Today, however, the European Union's relations with Africa are at a crossroads and the partnership needs to undergo a profound and rapid change. In order to properly investigate this research problem and to address its research questions concerning the future of the EU-Africa partnership, it is demonstrated that the time has come for change and redefinition of the partnership. Therefore, the overall aim of the article is to provide an insight into the EU's new partnership with Africa, to explore its complex, fragmented nature and scope, actors, legal bases, constitutive elements and different ways both sides are going to present the new agreement to their respective constituencies. The way this research is pursued combines a number of methods. It involves textual analysis of primary sources – the instruments regulating the EU's relations with Africa, secondary sources, documentary analysis as well as comparative, contextual and historical analysis. The complexities facing the EU and its African partners encourage curiosity and reflection about the new partnership. The article strongly emphasizes that the EU-Africa partnership does not stand still. It is a process of ever closer partnership. It has evolved from a relatively limited scale into a comprehensive system of normative instruments and institutions. And it has bifurcated into EU-ACP and EU-AU partnerships and today both partnerships are being re-negotiated. The likelihood of the negotiations being completed successfully, optimistically, by the end of 2020, remains open. It is our overall conclusion and prediction that the EU-Africa partnership will be enhanced and move a step closer to an integrated, comprehensive partnership, an effective framework for EU-AU relations. ; Unia Europejska ma długą historię stosunków i strategicznego partnerstwa z Afryką. Dziś jednak stosunki Unii Europejskiej z Afryką są na rozdrożu, a ich partnerstwo musi ulec głębokiej i szybkiej transformacji. Aby właściwie zbadać ten problem badawczy i odpowiedzieć na pytania badawcze dotyczące przyszłości partnerstwa Unii Europejskiej z Afryką, artykuł dowodzi, że nadszedł czas na jego zmianę i redefinicję. Głównym celem tego artykułu jest identyfikacja nadrzędnych ram nowego partnerstwa UE z Afryką, analiza jego elementów konstytutywnych, złożonego charakteru i zakresu, aktorów, podstaw prawnych, i pozycji negocjacyjnych stron nowego partnerstwa. Badania prowadzono z wykorzystaniem wielu metod badawczych, przede wszystkim analizy tekstowej źródeł podstawowych – dokumentów regulujących stosunki UE z Afryką, literatury, analizy dokumentalnej, a także analizy porównawczej, kontekstualnej i historycznej. Trudności przed jakimi stoją negocjatorzy Unii Europejskiej i ich afrykańscy partnerzy, których oczekiwania są często dramatycznie rozbieżne, rodzą ciekawość i refleksję na temat nowego partnerstwa. Autorzy wychodzą z założenia, że partnerstwo Unii Europejskiej z Afryką jest procesem i nie stoi w miejscu. Jest to proces coraz ściślejszego związku, który stopniowo przekształcił się w kompleksowy system instrumentów i instytucji i podzielił się na dwa równoległe partnerstwa – partnerstwo Unii Europejskiej z państwami Afryki, Karaibów i Pacyfiku i partnerstwo Unii Europejskiej z Unią Afrykańską. Oba te partnerstwa są dzisiaj przedmiotem ponownych negocjacji, a prawdopodobieństwo pomyślnego zakończenia negocjacji do końca 2020 roku pozostaje zdaniem autorów pod znakiem zapytania. Niemniej jednak naszym ogólnym wnioskiem i prognozą jest, że partnerstwo Unii Europejskiej z Afryką zostanie wzmocnione i zbliży się o krok do zintegrowanego, kompleksowego partnerstwa i skutecznych ram dla stosunków Unii Europejskiej z Unią Afrykańską.