The betrayal of CARICOM’s ‘Gang of 13’

Sep 14, 2008 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
Last Wednesday (10-09-08), 13 CARICOM Heads of State, through expressing their proclivity to ink the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), betrayed the true cause of regional integration, and exposed the fragility of CARICOM.

Definitively, this Gang of 13 acted selfishly, knowing full well that Guyana with a large amount of natural resources had the most to lose.

President Bharrat Jagdeo took a stand against this unholy betrayal; and so are most of the stakeholders in Guyana, including the private sector, trade unionists, the PNCR, civil society, etc.

Makombe would say that in their haste to act, these CARICOM Heads may have perceived the region as a mere regional trading arrangement, reducing the verve of Caribbean people to nothing; and that a region should not be perceived as purely trade and markets.

Some people have argued that CARICOM Heads and the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) did little to develop an alternative ‘development’ agenda, and seemed to be more concerned about adapting to the EPA proposals.

But the Brewster-Girvan-Lewis Memorandum incisively pointed to the EPA’s deficiencies, and opened the way for an alternative agenda.

Instead, these including numerous other well respected people from academia were labeled as ‘mendicants’ in their pursuit of a better deal for the Caribbean.

Again , it appeared as if the CRNM, CARIFORUM’s negotiator, fast evolving with a political identity, succumbed to the wishes of the European Union; for in the end, the CRNM was lobbying to sustain particular clauses and interests within the EPA, notwithstanding some CARICOM Heads and civil society’s ’ misgivings about the EPA.

It must have been ominous when the European Union proposed EPA negotiations, not through the usual unified Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, but through different geographical negotiations.

EPA negotiations were set in motion with West Africa and Central Africa in October 2003, with Eastern and Southern Africa in February 2004, and with the Caribbean in April 2004.

Let’s remind ourselves that the ACP was established in 1975 through the Georgetown Agreement when the Lome 1 kicked in.

And the ACP negotiated with a unified voice whenever there was a review of the Lome Conventions. The ACP applied vigorous pressures to the European Union between Lome Conventions.

And when the World Trade Organisation (WTO) fast-tracked the neoliberal globalisation scene, the ACP exerted enormous pressure to make its voice heard; the ACP’s pressure group tactic was clearly observed during the WTO Ministerial Meeting in Cancun, Mexico in 2003, when the ACP took on the European Commission on certain issues as, investment; competition policy; trade facilitation; and transparency in government procurement.

This line of thinking may have pushed Professor Kelsey to suggest that the EPA negotiations were intended to destroy the solidarity of the ACP.

While there may be some goodies in the EPA, the Agreement in the main is bad, because, apparently, the European Union (EU) dictated the EPA agenda.

The International Development Committee, British House of Commons, in its consternation about the European Union’s economic abuse of poor nations had this to say: “It is immoral for the EU to misuse its economic strength to dictate clearly unfavourable terms to the ACP.”

And the Gang of 13 has not paid much mind to a possible dissolution of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).

Norman Girvan believes that the EU will control the EPA, and so noted “It seems to me that CARICOM will have no chance but to adapt its own regimes to the requirements and compliances of the EPA.

In fact, why go through all the trouble and expense of having CSME . . . [because] the policies, laws and practices would have been changed to suit the EPA. What really will be left of the CSME?

We would have surrendered our autonomy and policy-making in these areas to the requirements of the EPA compliance and with it much of our ability to pursue a development path.” The writing is now on the wall for an inked endorsement of the EPA. But the EPA still faces a ratification test.

Caribbean people may now need to embark on a vigorous mobilisation exercise in raising consciousness on the overall deficiencies of the EPA, the risks it presents to weakening regional integration and the sovereignty of individual CARICOM nations.
Prem Misir

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