Documents considered by the Committee on 18 March 2015 - European Scrutiny Contents


32 The EU and Guinea-Bissau

Committee's assessment Politically important
Committee's decisionCleared from scrutiny; further information requested
Document detailsCouncil Decision repealing Decision 2011/492/EU concerning the conclusion of consultations with the Republic of Guinea-Bissau under Article 96 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement
Legal baseArticle 9 and Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement; QMV
DepartmentForeign and Commonwealth Office
Document numbers(36693), 6690/15 + ADD 1, COM(15) 75

Summary and Committee's conclusions

32.1 Guinea-Bissau is a small West African state with a population of 1.6 million, a forecast nominal GDP of £526 million for 2014 and a ranking of 176 out of 186 countries on the UN Human Development Index (2014).

32.2 Guinea-Bissau has remained unstable since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974 with, most recently, two military coups in April 2010 and in April 2012. It is a key transit point for narcotics trafficking, principally cocaine, between South America and Europe; this poses a direct threat to the security of the United Kingdom and undermines civilian authority over the military, the rule of law and the effectiveness of development aid.

32.3 EU development aid provided directly to the authorities via the European Development Fund (EDF) was suspended in 2011, on the basis that the country had breached the Cotonou Agreement's essential political elements (in Cotonou Agreement parlance, Article 96 "appropriate measures"). The EU opened "Article 96" consultations with Guinea-Bissau in March 2011, focusing on reforms in the areas of political, judicial and economic governance.

32.4 Last July, the Minister for Europe (Mr David Lidington) reported that no further progress had been made over the past year against the agreed Article 96 benchmarks and, on this basis, the Article 96 measures should be renewed for another 12 months to 19 July 2015; however, the legislative and presidential elections in April and May were judged by all international observers, including the EU Electoral Observation Mission, as free and credible, and a major step in restoring constitutional order. So, in order to engage with and to support the newly elected authorities to move the country towards a more stable democratic future, the Council and Commission had proposed:

·  to extend for a further 12 months, to 19 July 2015, the appropriate measures set out in Decision 2011/492/EU, which had concluded formal consultations with the Republic of Guinea-Bissau under Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement;[90] and

·  that the application of these appropriate measures be suspended in order to allow for engagement with the newly elected Government of Guinea-Bissau.

32.5 The Minister agreed with this proposal: despite positive signals from the new government, security sector reform (SSR) remained a priority and "replacing the military hierarchy is of the utmost importance as it continues to pose a threat to the democratic process". Suspending application of the appropriate measures would allow financial support and help alleviate the currently strained economic situation: "the Commission has reported that the public treasury is empty and the State is unable to assume vital functions such as health, education, energy and water". Should the Government of Guinea-Bissau not renew the previous undertakings and embark upon the necessary reforms, the suspension could be lifted. The Minister considered the Commission's proposed way forward to be sensible.

Our assessment

32.6 We had no questions regarding the proposal, which we reported to the House because of the importance to UK and wider EU interests of endeavours to encourage and support good governance in the region and counteract authoritarian rule.

32.7 We were, however, concerned about the late submission of the proposal. We therefore asked the Minister to explain why — when the renewal date was known a year ago and there was no suggestion of any necessity for the last minute consideration of the appropriateness of the proposal — his Explanatory Memorandum was not submitted until, effectively, 8 July, only four working days before the Council meeting at which it was to be adopted. In his response, asked the Minister to remind us of how many times he had taken up the matter of late submission of proposals with the then EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the Commission (Baroness Ashton) and how she has responded — including whether she had responded at all to his most recent representations.

32.8 In the meantime, we cleared the draft Council Decision.

32.9 In so doing, we asked the Minister to write in six months' time with details of the Commission's progress review and his own assessment.[91]

32.10 The proposal now is that the arrangements outlined above be lifted, four months before the July 2015 expiry date.

32.11 The Minister supports this proposal, as do all other EU Member States. He says that, following the April-May 2014 elections, the Commission put together an urgent €60 million recovery package, enabling the delivery of vital state functions and basic social services, and heading off the risk of illegitimate parties again taking control. In late January 2015, EU Heads of Mission accredited to Guinea-Bissau (including the British Ambassador based in Dakar) judged that the "strong political will of the new Authorities to move forward on necessary reforms" remained high, and that some concrete results had already been delivered, with "some showing political courage and resolve". However, the report concluded that, "in order to reach a point of no return, full and coordinated international support is necessary; otherwise the unique chance to leave fragility behind might be lost".

32.12 A contemporaneous European External Action Service (EEAS) report mirrored these conclusions, and recommended that "considering the overall political situation, the progress made so far and the political commitment of the new authorities", the Article 96 appropriate measures should be lifted by mid-March and political engagement should be reinforced. This would not only allow the EU to finalise the 11th EDF programming and sign the seven-year National Indicative Programme with the new authorities of Guinea-Bissau, but also allow the EU to participate in the 25 March 2015 Guinea-Bissau donor roundtable (supported by the UNSC and ECOWAS); this round table "provides the opportunity for the international community to give strong support for Guinea-Bissau to consolidate its democracy, strengthen the rule of law, accelerate economic recovery, keep the peace, and improve the lives of its people". This is "a crucial juncture for Guinea-Bissau. It needs to sustain the positive momentum". The UK is one of a small number of EU Member States that have been actively engaged in Guinea-Bissau, and we would not want "the Bissau-Guinean authorities to conclude that we did not support the lifting of Article 96", nor "to inadvertently set back their fragile progress".

32.13 The proposal seems to be well-founded, and raises no questions in and of itself. We now clear it from scrutiny.

32.14 We should, however, be grateful if the Minister would remind the Committee of where matters presently stand on the EU restrictive measures initiated in 2012 following the military coup.[92]

32.15 We would also be grateful if he would clarify if and when he responded to our 9 July 2014 request for further information about his representations to the previous EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (Baroness Ashton; c.f. paragraph 32.7 above).

Full details of the documents: Draft Council Decision repealing Decision 2011/492/EU concerning the conclusion of consultations with the Republic of Guinea-Bissau under Article 96 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement: (36693), 6690/15 + ADD 1, COM(15) 75

Background

32.16 Guinea-Bissau has remained unstable since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974. Recent years have seen the murder of a serving President, one attempted coup d'état, and two actual coups in April 2010 and April 2012. Power has tended to lie with the overly-large military, which often acts with impunity and in its own interests. Divisions within the civilian leadership exacerbate matters, with rival politicians seeking to use the military leaders and their ambitions to shore up their own positions. It is a key transit point for narcotics trafficking, principally cocaine, between South America and Europe; this poses a direct threat to the security of the United Kingdom. The narcotics trade undermines civilian authority over the military, the rule of law and the effectiveness of development aid in Guinea Bissau and across West Africa.

32.17 The genesis of the Article 96 measures on Guinea-Bissau began with a mutiny on 1 April 2010, and the appointment of its main instigators to high-ranking positions in the military hierarchy. This was seen as a serious and manifest breach of the Cotonou Agreement. Under the terms of Article 96 of the Agreement, consultations were opened with Guinea-Bissau in March 2011. The Government of Guinea-Bissau put forward undertakings which would ensure the primacy of civilian authority, improvements to democratic governance, guarantees safeguarding constitutional order and the rule of law, and measures to tackle impunity and organised crime. As a result, the EU Commission concluded the consultations in June 2011, and on 18 July 2011 the EU adopted Council Decision 2011/492/EU. The EU and UN imposed restrictive measures against named members of the military command and others who took part in the coup. These consist of travel bans and asset freezes.[93]

32.18 That Council Decision included benchmarks for the gradual resumption of EU cooperation. The Article 96 measures suspended development funding to the government authorities under the 9th and 10th cycles of the European Development Fund (EDF9 and EDF10). The resumption of funding is directly linked to progress against the commitments undertaken by Guinea-Bissau during the Article 96 consultations. The Commission proposed to monitor the situation for the following twelve months, to July 2012, reserving the right to amend the measures, depending on how the political situation developed.

32.19 A January 2012 EU evaluation mission concluded that insufficient implementation of the agreed commitments had been achieved and recommended that restrictions continued. In April 2012, a military coup d'état took place as campaigning for the second round of Presidential elections was about to start. The military junta set up a transitional government with the third-placed Presidential candidate from the first round as transitional President. The transitional authorities originally said both Presidential and legislative elections would be held within a year, though this slipped as those in power sought to extend the transition.

32.20 Continued lack of progress since the coup in 2012 has resulted in the suspension of financial aid being renewed three times; the most recent renewal will expire on 19 July 2015.

The draft Council Decision

32.21 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 11 March 2015, the Minister explains that this draft Council Decision seeks to repeal Council Decision 2011/492/EU four months early. He expects this decision to be discussed at COREPER on 11 March 2015,[94] and agreed at Council by written procedure on 24 March.

The Government's view

32.22 The Minister says: "We support this proposal, as do all other EU Member States".

32.23 The Minister recalls the April 2012 coup d'etat, the closure of the consultations in 2011, and the return to political talks under Article 8 of the Cotonou Agreement, as the best method to maintain pressure on Guinea-Bissau, and notes that the intention was "to engage in regular dialogue, focusing on reforms in the areas of political, judicial and economic governance and to influence Guinea-Bissau's leaders into acting in the best interests of their citizens": but also notes that "Article 8 talks have not taken place as the EU agreed a policy of non-engagement with the post-coup transitional authorities".

32.24 He then says:

    "A joint monitoring mission to Guinea-Bissau from the European External Action Service and the Commission took place in January 2015 in order to assess progress in addressing essential elements (democratic principles, rule of law, human rights, good governance) laid down in Article 9 of the Cotonou Agreement.

    "On the basis of the mission's findings, and on the recommendation of the non-resident EU Heads of Mission to Guinea-Bissau, it was decided that the Article 96 measures should be lifted four months early.

    "The Commission argues that if the Appropriate Measures are not lifted early, the pledging part of the Guinea-Bissau Roundtable scheduled to take place on 25 March will be undermined. We support the Commission's proposal. There is unanimous support by other Member States."

The Minister's letter of 16 March 2015

32.25 The Minister provides the following additional information:

    "Following the free and credible Presidential and Legislative elections the Commission put together an urgent recovery package of €60m, with a Budget Support Programme of €20m as its centrepiece. This preliminary step toward engagement was to help establish stability by enabling the Government to ensure vital state functions and deliver basic social services. Without this, there was considerable concern that the nascent democratic government would fail, paving the way for illegitimate parties to take control once again.

    "On 26 January the EU Heads of Mission accredited to Guinea-Bissau (including the British Ambassador based in Dakar) released their assessment of the Bissau-Guinean government. They noted that, 'The strong political will of the new Authorities to move forward on necessary reforms remains high. Some concrete results have already been delivered, some showing political courage and resolve'. However, the report concluded that, 'in order to reach a point of no return, full and coordinated international support is necessary; otherwise the unique chance to leave fragility behind might be lost'.

    "On 27 January the European External Action Service (EEAS) released its own report on the situation, mirroring the conclusions of the EU Heads of Mission. It announced that "considering the overall political situation, the progress made so far and the political commitment of the new authorities, the Joint Monitoring Mission considers that the Article 96 appropriate measures should be lifted by mid-March and political engagement should be reinforced.

    "On the basis of these two reports (discussed in Council 28 January) it was decided that the Article 96 measures should be lifted early. This would not only allow the EU to finalise the 11th EDF programming and sign the seven-year National Indicative Programme with the new authorities of Guinea-Bissau, but also allow the EU to participate in the Guinea-Bissau donor roundtable (supported by the UNSC and ECOWAS) organised for 25 March 2015.

    "This round table provides the opportunity for the international community to give strong support for Guinea-Bissau to consolidate its democracy, strengthen the rule of law, accelerate economic recovery, keep the peace, and improve the lives of its people. This is a crucial juncture for Guinea-Bissau. It needs to sustain the positive momentum.

    "Despite pressure from the Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau, the Commission and EEAS argued to delay the Donor Conference to March to allow Member States and the EU to participate to the fullest level. The Commission only released its draft Council Decision calling for the conclusion of consultations with the Republic of Guinea-Bissau under Article 96 on 2 March."

32.26 On the timing of his Explanatory Memorandum, the Minister says:

    "Although the late timing of this draft Decision by the Commission has been far from ideal, I hope you will agree with me that it will be to the UK's advantage to support the proposal in Brussels. The UK is one of a small number of EU Member States that have been actively engaged in Guinea-Bissau, and we would not want the Bissau-Guinean authorities to conclude that we did not support the lifting of Article 96. Nor would we want inadvertently to set back their fragile progress."

Previous Committee Reports

None, but see (36160), 11136/14, + ADD 1, COM(14) 369: Sixth Report HC 219-vi (2014-15), chapter 6 (9 July 2014), and (35074), 11379/13, COM(13) 439: Ninth Report HC 83-ix (2013-14), chapter 18 (10 July 2013). Also see Fourteenth Report HC 428-xiii (2010-12), chapter 15 (19 January 2011).


90   The Cotonou Agreement is the principal instrument of the European Union's development policy towards Africa and Caribbean and Pacific countries. It was established in 2000 and was revised in 2005 and 2010. Based on partnership, the Agreement aims to promote economic, cultural and social development. It provides for regular and wide-ranging political discourse with emphasis on human rights, democracy, the rule of law and good governance. Back

91   See (36160), 11136/14, + ADD 1, COM (14) 369: Sixth Report HC 219-vi (2014-15), chapter 6 (9 July 2014). Back

92   Council Decision 2012/285/CFSP and Council Regulation (EU) No 377/2012, as subsequently amended. Back

93   See Fourteenth Report HC 428- xiii (2010-12), chapter 15 (19 January 2011) for full background. Back

94   See COREPER. Back


 
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