CONCLUSION
157. We have in this Report discussed ideas and proposals
for the new Convention to replace Lomé IV. To bring these
suggested reforms to fruition and build a revitalised partnership
between the ACP and the EU requires, in addition to ideas, the
political will and influence to bring change about. We end with
three practical examples of political action which will be of
benefit as negotiations near on the shape of `Lomé V'.
To begin with our own country, we do not see why the FCO should
be the lead Department on the Lomé Convention. This is
not to denigrate in any way the expertise of FCO officials. But
it is clear that the Convention will not loom so large in FCO
thinking as it will in DFID's. FCO must of course have a significant
policy input, particularly on the political dialogue provisions
within the Convention. FCO input should not necessarily mean that
the FCO has the lead. We believe that DFID is better placed
to be the lead department in Whitehall on the renegotiation of
the Lomé Convention and recommend accordingly.
158. A second example of political activity is to
mobilise greater discussion and scrutiny of Lomé both with
and among the parliaments of the EU member states. Mr Maxwell
explained that "The basic problem with Europe is this ...
that actually almost everybody agrees on the changes that need
to happen ... but year after year it does not happen".[274]
He thought it would be valuable to member state parliaments in
support of change, "A meeting which was specifically of chairs
of development select committees from around the member states
would be a tremendously powerful vehicle for moving the debate
forward".[275]
The Committee has organised a meeting for the chairs of member
state parliamentary committees with development responsibilities.
It will take place in June 1998 and we trust that it will be the
first in a regular pattern of meetings to enhance cooperation
amongst EU development committees.
159. A political initiative taken by this Government
has been to follow up past Council Resolutions, in particular
the ones on gender and poverty, and discover how they have been
applied and implemented, if at all. Continuity of policy is as
important as coherence. Clare Short pointed to the problem of
a new EU Presidency every six months each with a desire to pass
its own well-intentioned resolutions but with little thought to
those which had gone before. As a result, "Very fine resolutions
have been passed on, say, poverty or gender or whatever but everything
just carries on as before. Although we wish to pass a resolution
on commitment to the 21st Century Strategy, beyond
that we are not going for new work. We want to take out the resolutions
that were passed in the past on poverty and gender and look at
what happened on implementation as a way of getting inside the
question of effectiveness in the period of our Presidency".[276]
We congratulate the Government on returning to these past Resolutions
and asking in the Development Council what their effect has been.
We recommend that Council Resolutions are accompanied by a
Commission strategy for their dissemination, application and implementation,
and the monitoring of their impact.
160. To survey the Lomé Convention and consider
its future is inevitably also to examine many of the issues and
challenges facing European Union development policy. We consider
that the past strengths of the Lomé Convention remain vitally
important for the future - a reinvigorated concept of partnership,
an integrated aid and trade policy, a political dialogue to establish
the right social and political environment for development. Our
recommendations will, if implemented, introduce greater efficiency
and effectiveness into the Convention's activities and release
the potential of its institutions. What is necessary, above all
else, is the political will in the Commission and in the member
states to modernise the Convention and integrate it into a single,
poverty-focussed European Union development policy.
274 Q.369 Back
275
Q.369 Back
276
Q.482 Back
|
