Latest update May 22nd, 2026 12:38 AM
The two EPA Clauses are substantive
Dear Editor,
I refer to another boorish commentary in the Kaieteur News of October 17, 2008.
President Bharrat Jagdeo and the Government of Guyana successfully extracted the European Union’s concessions on two Clauses.
And so the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) would now carry two appendicized Clauses as a Declaration, notwithstanding the inflexibility of the European Commission and minimum cooperation among CARICOM Heads, to speak to the deficiencies of the EPA.
Clause # 1: a 5-yearly review of the Economic Partnership Agreement to consider the socioeconomic impact on the Caribbean region and an obligation by the European Union to speak to the impact; to uncover which areas of the agreement and/or their application may require amendment.
This Clause, while it does not address all the concerns of the Brewster-Girvan-Lewis Memorandum, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Sir Shridath Ramphal, OXFAM, hundreds of academics, the Christina Taubira Report of France, including a few CARICOM Heads of State, provides some relief and protection to identify deleterious effects of the EPA. And so, clearly, this Clause is substantive.
One commentator in the Kaieteur News of October 17, 2008 tries unsuccessfully to deride this Clause because this commentator believed that the 5-year review already is incorporated in the Cotonou Agreement; but the Cotonou Agreement expires in 2020. And the Cotonou Agreement is a quite separate Agreement from the EPA, notwithstanding their complementarity.
Clause # 2: the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas to prevail in cases of conflict with the Economic Partnership Agreement; the notion here is to preserve the Caribbean regional integration process. Those who conclude that this Clause is a face-saving device, indeed, do not care about regional integration, and/or do not understand the negative implications of diluting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.
This is what Girvan had to say on the EPA: “EPA contains a degree of ‘supra-nationality’ not even present in the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing Caricom and the CSME. At the apex will be a Joint Cariforum-EC Council…(the decisions of which) are binding on the parties that are obliged to take all measures necessary to implement them.
This gives the joint council greater legal powers over member states than the Conference of Heads of Government of Caricom, Caricom’s Council for Trade and Development and any other organ of Caricom…There will be a Trade and Development Committee under the Joint Council…also endowed with specific legal powers over the actions of member states.” Is this EPA, then, not an assault on Caribbean sovereignty? On this count alone, all forces should have joined together to fight the good fight, that is, to secure renegotiation of the EPA.
And so now securing the EU’s concession on this Clause maintains the integrity of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas; this Clause, therefore, is substantive.
President Jagdeo and the Guyana Government battled to secure concessions from the European on these two Clauses.
And so as this battle raged, it is unfortunate and perhaps a tragedy that some commentators even now, mainly using anecdotal evidence, to issue definitive conclusions on the Economic Partnership Agreement; given that this Agreement is an immensely technical matter with huge implications for the Caribbean region.
And those who have followed the birth of the EPA from the European Union’s Green Paper in 1996, must know that this President over the years demonstrated a determined alacrity to speak to ways of improving this Agreement.
Clearly, this Kaieteur News’ commentary really is an attempt to ride roughshod over two substantive Clauses that would provide benefits and protection for the Caribbean region, in sustaining the integrity of the regional integration process, and periodically recognizing any harmful impact of the EPA.
And so for these reasons, the two Clauses are definitively substantive, and the Guyanese people must feel a sense of pride that this Government and President extracted these concessions from the EU.
Prem Misir
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