The Revision of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement

The official ceremony of the signing of the second revision of the Cotonou Agreement took place in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on 22-23 June 2010 in the presence of the EU Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs and representatives from the ACP countries.

There are several positive changes within the revision.  The role of ACP national parliaments, local authorities and non-state actors has been strengthened and regional integration by political dialogue has been reinforced through the African Union becoming a partner of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary assembly).  In addition, coherence and complementarity principles have been emphasised and the challenge of climate change has been taken into account.

However there are still some  areas in which the  Cotonou Agreement is lacking.  Issues of migration have been put aside and actions on policy coherence remain too soft.  Moreover, there has been a clear lack of transparency throughout the process of this revision, a fact highlighted by the CONCORD Cotonou Working Group.