The Samoa-Agreement: EU relations with African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries
By Nora Fotini El-Awdan, 7 minutes
What is the Samoa Agreement?
Have you heard about the Samoa-Agreement before? No, or just a little? Then this article is a good start to get to know more about an agreement that impacts over 1,5 billion people, and is the legal framework for EU relations with 79 countries, making up the Organization of African (48 countries), Caribbean (16 countries) and Pacific (15 countries) states, short OACPS, until April 2020 known as the ACP group.
This agreement covers the baselines around the key topics of democracy and human rights; sustainable economic growth and development; climate change; human and social development; peace and security; migration and mobility with the goal to strengthen the capacity to address global challenges together.
As regions with different dynamics are involved, this agreement contains three regional protocols tailored to fit specific interests. The new twenty-year-agreement was greenlighted on July 20, 2023 by the Council. It was officially signed by the EU, its Member States and a number of OACPS members in Samoa on November 15, 2023 and thus now succeeds the Cotonou Agreement from the year 2000.
This partnership agreements’ provisional application started on January 1, 2024. The agreement will fully enter into force as soon as the European Parliament and all EU Member States and at least two thirds of the OACPS Members ratify it. But across the states involved, there have been disagreements on specific areas of the agreement.
Before diving deeper into these conflict topics, let’s first learn more about why politicians deem this agreement as relevant, where this agreement comes from, and what is new.
Samoa's Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mata'afa (third left) and European Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen (second right). Picture by the EEAS/European Union ©
Why is it relevant?
According to Joseph Borrell, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the Commision, this agreement brings together more than half of the UN members “around shared priorities and interests” and “moving away from old paradigms” towards “win-win partnerships” equipping all involved countries to address emerging needs and global challenges.
Pilar Cancela Rodríguez, the Secretary of State for International Cooperation of the Kingdom of Spain, who co-signed the Agreement on behalf of the EU, underlined the importance of the joint and deepend global action in a multilateral approach that gives hope on finding solutions together in a very diverse group.
Professor Robert Dussey, Togo's Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration and Togolese Abroad was the OACPS' Chief Negotiator and Chair of the Ministerial Central Negotiating Group (2020) and highlighted that the agreement is the result of “long and intense negotiations” that “paves the way for a modern and more committed partnership at the national, regional and international level.”
And indeed, the process of establishing this new agreement has been a long one.
What is the timeline of the partnership between the EU and the OACPS?
The (O)ACP(S)-EU partnership is one of the oldest and most comprehensive frameworks for cooperation between the EU and third countries. It started in 1963 with the Yaoundé Convention (renegotiated in 1969 as Yaoundé II) which established a free trade area on the principle of reciprocity. In 1975, later updated 4 times, the Lomé Convention was established as a framework for cooperation between the ACP states and the European Economic Community, predecessor of the EU.
In 2000 the Cotonou Agreement, signed in Benin, replaced the Lomé Convention and was the first comprehensive partnership agreement between the ACP states and the EU. On February 29, 2020, the Cotonou Partnership Agreement was due to expire but was extended first until 31 December 2020, then 30 November 2021 to allow time to complete all the procedures necessary for the signing, conclusion and the entry into force of the new agreement.
The Post-Cotonou negotiations had started in September 2018, but it took more than two years of negotiations before the text of a renewed partnership agreement was initialled in April 2021. More than two years later, in November 2023, the most dissenting views in the EU itself were resolved, before all EU Member States signed.
To date in 2024, the new agreement requires further procedures for a full enforcement to be possible, notably the ratification by at least two-thirds (53) of the OACPS members. By February 2024, almost all States have signed the agreement.
Picture by the European Commission/European Union ©
What is new?
According to existing analysis and the agreement parties themselves, there is a stronger regional focus. Furthermore, it is a more modern and political partnership, that equippes the members with a common ground for global solutions to global challenges. This means to be able to act together on environmental and climate change challenges, migration and mobility, peace and security to advance the UN 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as well as the Paris Agreement. A stronger focus is the attention to sustainable, inclusive growth and job creation.
On an institutional level, the parliamentary dimension has been strengthened, for example through a OACPS-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) and three new joint regional parliamentary assemblies (Africa-EU, Caribbean-EU, and Pacific-EU).
Focusing on the African regional protocol, there is a new economic outlook keeping in mind that on the African continent lives the world's youngest population fighting key challenges, addressed in six sections:
(1) Inclusive, Sustainable Economic Growth and Development, where the Agreement focuses for example on improving human capital and intellectual property. Furthermore, (2) Human and Social Development through working on inequalities and social cohesion, the advancement of women and children's rights and assistance to people with disabilities. The (3) Environment and Natural Resource Management is planned to be improved through retention and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystem. Further attention lies on (4) Peace and Security, by for example tackling organised (cyber-)crime, terrorism and violent extremism. The last two important areas are (5) Human Rights, Democracy and Governance, particularly gender equality, rule of law and justice and (6) Migration and Mobility, where the partners agree to work together on legal migration and mobility in line with international and human rights law by addressing smuggling and human trafficking.
Focus: EU-Africa relations
Regarding the EU-Africa relations, another important topic is the overlap with other frameworks and strategies. The Samoa Agreement is the legal framework for sub-Saharan Africa-EU relations. There is a Joint Communication towards a comprehensive strategy with Africa, taking into consideration the framework of the African Union (AU)-European Union Declarations through the EU-AU summits. This is in support of regional and continental integration in Africa to achieve peace and prosperity, which is part of the “Agenda 2063” of the African Union (AU), the pan-African organisation representing African continental interests. The AU is in support of regional economic integration, of which most recently the result is the Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area, in Kigali in March 2018.
The Samoa Agreements tries to coherence and complementarity with the AU-EU Summits and related outcome documents, thus recognizing the role of the AU as well as of regional economic communities (RECs) on continental and cross-regional issues. Still, overlapping frameworks remain a big challenge when looking at EU-Africa relations as they enhance the complexity of the already complex relations.
Challenges and criticism?
Challenges that prevented the new agreement from being finalised by the initial expiry date set in the Cotonou Agreement were the multiple negotiation levels, the coronavirus crisis. Furthermore, a major discussion centred around sensitive issues like migration management, sexual and reproductive health and rights, which to-date remain contested.
Especially from the OACPS countries, critical voices speak of “neo-colonialism” and “eurocentrism” when speaking about agreed statements on the rule-based order and the implementation of democracy (sovereignty). Other voices celebrate this agreement as a first step towards an equal partnership and listening to each other’s interests and aspirations.
A major disagreement was, and is, the one on “universal access to quality and affordable comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information and education.” The Catholic Commission for Social Justice (CCSJ) in Trinidad and Tobago criticized “imposed ideologies” on abortion, same-sex marriage, and LGBTQ rights. Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines replied to these critical voices that this is not explicitly stated in the agreement and there is no commitment to required change of laws on same-sex marriage or transgender rights. Here, supporters from the LGBTQ community underline the necessity and importance of securing their rights more explicitly.
Sources/Further information:
EU material and press releases:
- https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/samoa-agreement/
- https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_2291
- https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_20_2303
- https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_2291
- https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/cotonou-agreement/
The Samoa Agreement:
- https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-8372-2023-REV-1/en/pdf
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350689631_International_
Agreements_in_Progress_The_Samoa_agreement_with_African_Caribbean_and_Pacific_states
Critics:
- https://www.searchlight.vc/editorial/2023/11/28/samoa-agreement-sensational-speculation/
- https://thevoiceslu.com/2023/11/samoa-disagreement/
- https://hoodcommunist.org/2024/01/18/the-samoa-agreement-neocolonialism-in-the-caribbean/
- https://www.hli.org/2023/12/neo-colonialism-and-the-samoa-agreement/
- https://euobserver.com/opinion/158157
- https://www.fafce.org/samoa-agreement-europas-ideological-neo-colonisation/
Academic:
Carbone, M. (2013). Rethinking ACP-EU relations after Cotonou: Tensions, Contradictions, Prospects. Journal of International Development, 25(5), 742-756.
Carbone, M. (2018). Caught between the ACP and the AU: Africa relations with the European Union in a post-Cotonou Agreement context. South African Journal of International Affairs, 25(4), 481-496.
Carbone, M. (2024). Beyond the Heaven–Hell Binary and the One-Way Traffic Paradigm: The European Union, Africa and Contested Human Rights in the Negotiations of the Samoa Agreement. Journal of Common Market Studies, 2024, 1-18.
Picture Sources:
