EPA in its present form is a return to European imperialism

Sep 02, 2008 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
Caribbean economies are not highly protected anymore. These economies have lost out with sugar, vis-à-vis the proposed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU).

And Guyana’s President, Bharrat Jagdeo, was the first CARICOM Head to question the wisdom of the EPA. Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding attacked critics of the EPA as wanting to continue engaging in mendicancy and not keen on ridding themselves of the psychological shackles of slavery.

But are the more than 500 academics opposed to the EPA mendicants? Today, other CARICOM Heads, particularly Grenada and St. Lucia, have seen the light of day and have come out against the EPA.

Then OXFAM, in April this year, spoke about the irrevocable damage that the EPA will do to vulnerable countries in the Caribbean and the world.

The first Head of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery, Sir Shridath Ramphal, critically noted in March 2008 that “It is time that the EU be stopped in its anti-development drive through these EPAs”.

I now present Norman Girvan, Havelock Brewster, and Vaughn Lewis’s 19 incisive criticisms of the EPA, drawn from their Memorandum titled ‘Problem Areas in the EPA and the case for Content Review’ to the Reflections Group:

1. The development component in the EPA is accorded less importance than trade liberalization;
2. The EC would have greater access to the resource transfer opportunities.
3. 82.7% of EC imports will not be subject to tariff.
4. Many value-added goods from CARIFORUM will be excluded.
5. Nothing about aid is included in the EPA to boost CARIFORUM’s supply capabilities.
6. Development cooperation within the EPA is not calculated and time-bound.
7. Caribbean labour to enter EU would face much conditionality.
8. Entertainers can make their way to the EC, but they first need to be registered in the Caribbean, and the local registration systems will be subject to EC approval.
9. The EC has made no provision for visa, immigration, residency requirements and work permits for Caribbean service providers.
10. 75% of the service sectors are available to EC service providers for MDCs and 65% for LDCs, placing locally-owned firms at a disadvantage.
11. EC pushing for WTO-plus commitments on services, intellectual property, competition, public procurement, investment, and e-commerce, but WTO rules only require the EPA to be WTO-compatible, not WTO-plus.
12. WTO-plus commitments to EC would influence Caribbean Governments’ policies, placing CARICOM’s priorities in the background.
13. ‘National treatment’ requirements within the EPA may work against developing the capacity of local firms.
14. The essence of the EPA is integration with the EC, and since the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) is not a substitute to integration with the global economy, CSME could become marginalised.
15. Structuring the implementation of EPA would demand a lot more of CARIFORUM’s scarce funds and scarce technical manpower.
16. Parties to the EPA are the EC and 15 CARIFORUM States, but CARICOM is not a party to the Agreement.
17. Additional problematic provisions prevail.
18. The EPA provisions may emerge as a standard to the forthcoming CARICOM trade negotiations with the US and Canada.
19. CARIFORUM should have negotiated an EPA that is WTO-compatible, and not an EPA that is WTO-plus.

The Girvan-Brewster-Lewis Memorandum expresses sufficient concerns about the evolving EPA to warrant a second-look at a document that has the potential to devastate CSME and eventually disintegrate the CARICOM integration movement.

CARICOM Heads may very well have to ink this document to secure outcomes from trade for survival purposes; but, in the interests of promoting the good of the Caribbean and Caribbean integration, let’s hope that there could be some deferral on the consummation of this Agreement.

The Guyana Head of State’s call for national consultations will bear fruit in a few days. And then the people of Guyana will see the EPA for what it really is — a return to European imperialism.

Prem Misir

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EPA in its present form is a return to European imperialism

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