This report is the result of a series of Expert Round Tables held in March 2015, the first phase of a two-stage consultation process launched by the European Union (EU) on ACP-EU relations after 2020.

Participants attempted to identify essential elements of a good partnership, with mutual trust featuring high on the list. A future agreement should take into account factors such as i) the changes that have taken place in global geo-politics, ii) new emerging challenges and regional dynamics, iii) the heterogeneity of the partners, iv) the Cotonou acquis, v) shared universal values, vi) EU specific and mutual ACP-EU interests and, finally, vii) the flexibility needed to deal with changing circumstances.

Background

The Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA), between the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the EU, which will expire in February 2020, was signed in 2000. However, the Partnership dates back to as early as the 1950s with various instruments and agreements, as manifested in the Treaty of Rome, the Yaoundé Declarations and the early European Development Funds (EDFs). According to Article 95 of the CPA, negotiations between the Parties “in order to examine what provisions shall subsequently govern their relations” are mandated to start “eighteen months before the end of the total period of the Agreement” in August 2018.

The Round Table process provided initial assessments and opinions from a total of 103 participants – experts from academia, think-tanks, the private sector, Civil Society organisations, EU Institutions and EU Member States – based on their experience with the ACP-EU partnership and their thematic knowledge.

The consultation was led by a team of eight consultants, i.e. one team leader and seven cluster leaders, under the guidance of the European Commission’s Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO) and the European External Action Service (EEAS). It was organised in the form of seven thematic Round Tables each considering clusters identified by the EU as key to a revised partnership:

i) What kind of partnership do we want?

ii) The future framework for international cooperation and development policy;

iii) Means of implementation;

iv) Stakeholders and institutions;

v) Regional integration and trade;

vi) Global challenges;

vii) Demographic developments.

The number and composition of experts was carefully balanced in order to ensure the broadest possible coverage of views from European stakeholders and a diversity of profiles to stimulate an open debate on post-Cotonou issues.

Six of the Round Tables were co-hosted by European Union Member States and took place in in The Hague, Bonn, Paris, Luxembourg, London and Riga, while (the first) one was held in Brussels. A concluding Round Table which discussed the outcome of the whole process with Commission services and the EEAS was organised in May, also in Brussels.

This report presents the key findings of the process together with recommendations for questions suggested for a subsequent phase of broader public consultations. It presents an overview of the discussions preceded by a description of cross-cutting issues which emerged in several or all Round Tables. The report seeks to offer a faithful reflection of the deliberations amongst participants of each Round Table. Opinions reported reflect those of the experts (without personal attributions), not those of the institution they belong to.