The Lomé Convention is a trade and aid agreement between the European Economic Community (EEC) and 71 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries, first signed in February 1975 in Lomé, Togo.
The Cotonou Agreement is a treaty between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States. It was signed in June 2000 in Cotonou, Benin's largest city, by 78 ACP countries and the then fifteen Member States of the European Union. It entered into force in 2003 and was subsequently revised in 2005 and 2010.
The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) is a group of countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that was created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. Formerly known as African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), the organisation's main objectives are sustainable development and poverty reduction within its member states, as well as their greater integration into the world's economy. All of the member states, except Cuba, are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement with the European Union.
The Secretariat of the European Parliament is the administrative body of the European Parliament headed by a Secretary-General. It is based in the Kirchberg district of Luxembourg City and around the Brussels-Luxembourg Station in Brussels and employs 4000 officials.
Although there has been a large degree of integration between European Union member states, foreign relations is still a largely intergovernmental matter, with the 27 members controlling their own relations to a large degree. However, with the Union holding more weight as a single bloc, there are at times attempts to speak with one voice, notably on trade and energy matters. The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy personifies this role.
The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) was established in 1983 under the Lomé Convention between the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States and EU member states. Since 2000 CTA has operated within the framework of the ACP-EU Cotonou Agreement with a mission to “strengthen policy and institutional capacity development and information and communication management capacities of ACP agricultural and rural development organisations. It assists such organisations in formulating and implementing policies and programmes to reduce poverty, promote sustainable food security, preserve the natural resource base and thus contribute to building self-reliance in ACP rural and agricultural development.”. The centre is closed in 2020, after the end of the Cotonou Agreement and the subsequent end of its financing.
Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark is one of the EU members’ overseas countries and territories (OCT) associated to the European Union. Greenland receives funding from the EU for sustainable development and has signed agreements increasing cooperation with the EU.
Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) are a scheme to create a free trade area (FTA) between the European Union and other countries. They are a response to continuing criticism that the non-reciprocal and discriminating preferential trade agreements offered by the EU are incompatible with WTO rules. The EPAs date back to the signing of the Cotonou Agreement. The EPAs with the different regions are at different states of play. The EU has signed EPAs with the following countries: the Southern African Development Community (SADC), ECOWAS, six countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, Cameroon, four Pacific states, and the CARIFORUM states. Their defining characteristic is that they open up exports to the EU immediately, while exports to the partner regions is opened up only partially and over transitioning periods.
Development cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) started in 1957 with the Treaty of Rome, which first established a collective European development policy. The Treaty of Rome granted associated status to 31 overseas collectivities and territories (OCTs) and provided for the creation of a European Development Fund (EDF) intended to grant technical and financial assistance to the countries which were still under European rule at the time. More significantly, however, by means of the Treaty of Rome the six member states of the European Economic Community were expressing solidarity with the colonies and OCTs and committed themselves to contribute to their prosperity. The EDF has to date been funded outside the EU budget by the EU Member States on the basis of financial payments related to specific contribution shares, or “keys”, which are subject to negotiation. The EDF is currently the only EU policy instrument that is financed through a specific key that is different from the EU budget key, and which reflects the comparative interests of individual Member States.
The Directorate-General for International Partnerships is the European Commission department responsible for international development policy. It operates under the authority of the European Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen.
The European Development Fund (EDF) is the main instrument for European Union (EU) aid for development cooperation in Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific countries and the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT). Funding is provided by voluntary donations by EU member states. Until 2020 the EDF was subject to its own financial rules and procedures, and was managed by the European Commission (EC) and the European Investment Bank. The EDF has been incorporated into the EU's general budget as of the 2021-2027 multi-annual financial framework.
ENTSO-E, the European Network of Transmission System Operators, represents 39 electricity transmission system operators (TSOs) from 35 countries across Europe, thus extending beyond EU borders. ENTSO-E was established and given legal mandates by the EU's Third Package for the Internal energy market in 2009, which aims at further liberalising the gas and electricity markets in the EU.
The ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly was created to bring together the elected representatives of the European Union and the elected representatives of the African, Caribbean and Pacific states that have signed the Cotonou Agreement.
The area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) of the European Union (EU) is a policy domain concerning home affairs and migration, justice as well as fundamental rights, developed to address the challenges posed to internal security by collateral effects of the free movement of people and goods in the absence of border controls or customs inspection throughout the Schengen Area, as well as to safeguard adherence to the common European values through ensuring that the fundamental rights of people are respected across the EU.
The European Union has concluded free trade agreements (FTAs) and other agreements with a trade component with many countries worldwide and is negotiating with many others. The European Union negotiates free trade deals on behalf of all of its member states, as the member states have granted the EU has an "exclusive competence" to conclude trade agreements. Even so, member states' governments control every step of the process :
The Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) is a subgroup of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States and serves as a base for economic dialogue with the European Union. It was established in 1992. Its membership comprises the 15 Caribbean Community states, along with the Dominican Republic. In 2008, they signed the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union. Guyana and Haiti expressed reservations and did not attend the signing ceremony.
Spore was a magazine published by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) in English, French and, for a time, in Portuguese. It covered a wide range of agricultural topics and was extensively distributed and widely reproduced throughout African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and elsewhere. Originally known as the "Bulletin of CTA" it later styled itself as "the magazine for agricultural and rural development in ACP countries". The final issue, No. 195, was published in December 2019. At its peak, the magazine reached over 50,000 subscribers and it was also published online.
The European Commissioner for International Partnerships formerly European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development is the member of the European Commission responsible for overseeing the international cooperation and development policy of the European Union, and for heading the Directorate-General for International Partnerships. The position was previously titled Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development. The Commissioner has to ensure that European Commission can adapt EU's development policy to the evolving needs of EU's partner countries, delivering on EU's commitments to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the eradication of poverty in the context of sustainable development. The incumbent Commissioner is former Deputy Prime Minister of Finland, Jutta Urpilainen.
Eurafrica refers to the originally German idea of strategic partnership between Africa and Europe. In the decades before World War II, German supporters of European integration advocated a merger of African colonies as a first step towards a federal Europe.
Micronesia–European Union relations are the foreign relations between the country of the Federated States of Micronesia and the European Union. Cooperation between Micronesia and European Union was initiated in 2000 when the country joined the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States and is developed in the framework of Cotonou Agreement within the wider ACP–EU development cooperation. Two sides formalized their direct diplomatic relations on 18 April 2002 when the European Union ambassador Frans Baan attended diplomatic credential ceremony in Palikir. In 2008 the designated national authorizing officer for EU programs Fabian Nimea visited several EU member countries to promote further cooperation between his country and the European Union.
