Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

▸10 unchanged paragraphs

on the implementation of the EU-Southern African Development Community (SADC) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)

(2023/2065(INI))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the SADC EPA States, of the other part,

– having regard to its resolution of 14 September 2016 on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the SADC EPA States, of the other part,

– having regard to its resolution of 6 October 2022 on the outcome of the Commission’s review of the 15-point action plan on trade and sustainable development,

– having regard to its resolution of 23 June 2022 on the future of EU-Africa trade relations,

– having regard to its resolution of 25 March 2021 on a new EU-Africa Strategy – a partnership for sustainable and inclusive development,

– having regard to the Commission communication of 18 February 2021 entitled ‘Trade Policy Review – An Open, Sustainable and Assertive Trade Policy’ (COM(2021)0066),

– having regard to the Commission communication of 11 December 2019 entitled ‘The European Green Deal’ (COM(2019)0640),

Changed– having regard to the Commission staff workingcommunication documentof entitled5 ‘IndividualMarch information2020 sheetsentitled on‘A implementationUnion of EUEquality: TradeGender Agreements’Equality (SWD(2022)0730),Strategy 2020-2025’ (COM(2020)0152),

Added– having regard to the Commission staff working document of 11 October 2022 entitled ‘Individual information sheets on implementation of EU Trade Agreements’ (SWD(2022)0730),

– having regard to the Commission position paper on the Sustainability Impact Assessment in support of trade negotiations with Angola for EU-SADC EPA accession,

Added– having regard to the Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Angola (EU-Angola SIFA),

– having regard to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, including the Paris Agreement of 2015,

– having regard to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,

Added– having regard to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) publication of 19 October 2021 entitled ‘Transforming Southern Africa: Harnessing Regional Value Chains and Industrial Policy for Development’,

▸8 unchanged paragraphs

– having regard to the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area,

– having regard to the Joint Statement of the 26th EU-South Africa Inter-Parliamentary Meeting, which took place on 31 October and 1 November 2018,

– having regard to the SADC Vision 2050,

– having regard to the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap (2015-2063),

– having regard to the European Economic and Social Committee’s own-initiative opinion entitled ‘Next Generation Trade and Sustainable Development – Reviewing the 15-point action plan’,

– having regard to the Ex-post evaluation of the EU-SADC Economic Partnership Agreement – Inception Report of 21 June 2023,

– having regard to the meetings of the EU-SADC EPA Trade and Development Committee, in particular its sixth to ninth meetings,

– having regard to the 2021 Global Report on Food Crises,

Changed– having regard to the study of the European Parliament’s Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services of ...22 November 2023 entitled ‘EU-Southern African Development Community agreement at yearEconomic sixPartnership –Agreement: aAA geo-economic perspective’,

– having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure, as well as Article 1(1)(e) of, and Annex 3 to, the decision of the Conference of Presidents of 12 December 2002 on the procedure for granting authorisation to draw up own-initiative reports,

– having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Development,

Changed– having regard to the report of the Committee on International Trade (A90000/2023),(A9-0024/2024),

Change 1

ChangedA. whereas geopolitical changeschanges, including the coronavirus pandemic, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the economic consequences thereof, have led to Africa’s repositioning and the countries of the Global South having a more self-determined role on the world stage;stage, advancing their own interests and contributions;

B. whereas the association of important countries of the Global South in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) alliance, which is to be expanded by six more countries from 2024 following the decision of the BRICS summit in August 2023, underscores the importance of maintaining cooperation with Global South nations on equal and equitable terms;

C. whereas South Africa plays a prominent role as a bridge-builder between the European Union and the African continent and as a partner in addressing global challenges;

Change 2

RemovedD. whereas the full participation of civil society in implementing and monitoring the EU-SADC EPA is essential for the timely identification of challenges, opportunities and priorities and for monitoring the respective agreed actions;

AddedD. whereas the post-Cotonou Agreement will become the new overarching framework for all EPAs, including the EPA with the SADC, as well as a key reference for future reviews of these agreements;

AddedE. whereas the full participation of all stakeholders, namely civil society, business representatives and trade unions, in implementing and monitoring the EU-SADC EPA is essential for the timely identification of challenges, opportunities and priorities and for monitoring the respective agreed actions;

AddedF. whereas Angola is in the process of joining the EU-SADC EPA; whereas the EU and Angola have concluded negotiations on an EU-Angola SIFA;

AddedG. whereas special and differentiated treatment is a founding principle of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Policy Coherence for Development principle should guide EU trade relations with developing countries;

AddedH. whereas gender inequality costs sub-Saharan Africa on average 6 % of the region’s yearly GDP, jeopardising the continent’s efforts for inclusive human development and economic growth; whereas a one percent increase in gender inequality reduces a country’s human development index by 0.75 %;

AddedI. whereas the SADC EPA States are facing challenges such as deep inequalities and a heavy dependence on exports of unprocessed raw materials and agricultural products;

AddedJ. whereas these inequalities have proven to be an obstacle to broad-based industrialisation efforts and sometimes lead to corruption, and require the development of differentiated policies to address economic inequalities within and between countries in the SADC region;

K. whereas the SADC Vision 2050 is based on three pillars: industrial development and market integration, infrastructure development in support of regional integration, and social and human capital development;

L. whereas the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap 2015-2063 identifies three preferred growth paths for resource-based industrialisation in the region: agricultural commodity processing, mineral processing, and industrial and service-based value chains;

Change 3

AddedM. whereas developing countries face a gap of USD 2.5 trillion in annual financing to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030; whereas foreign direct investment (FDI) is an instrument for financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the corresponding SDGs; whereas such capital can support job creation and social and environmental improvements, as set out in the SDGs; whereas the aim of attracting investment should go hand in hand with the acknowledgement, in the context of international investment agreements (IIAs), that the parties to these agreements should seek to improve their levels of environmental or labour protection, and not weaken or reduce them;

AddedN. whereas the objective of the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap 2015–2063 is to develop and participate in regional and global value chains;

AddedO. whereas transport and digital infrastructure is needed to develop regional value chains and increasingly integrate SADC States into global value chains;

AddedP. whereas the crucial elements for successful participation in the value chain are financing, skills, technology, infrastructure and logistics;

Q. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly widened the investment gaps in the SADC EPA States and limited their fiscal space;

Change 4

AddedR. whereas the consequences of the measures taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have significantly affected the livelihoods of populations, particularly in the states of Eswatini and Lesotho, which depend on the South African Labour and Border Crossing;

AddedS. whereas commodity price volatility during the COVID-19 pandemic caused economic damage to SADC EPA States dependent on the tax revenues from extractive industries;

T. whereas the low level of local production of health products keeps the region dependent on international production for the procurement of vital health products, including essential vaccines against COVID-19;

EPA monitoring and review process

Change 5

Removed1. Welcomes the first review process launched in November 2021 after the EPA had been provisionally applied since 2016 and expects it to be able to demonstrate the link between the EPA and sustainable development;

Added1. Welcomes the first review process launched in November 2021 after the EPA had been provisionally applied since 2016 and expects it to be able to demonstrate the link between the EPA and sustainable development; calls on the Commission to work with the SADC partners to advance fair, inclusive and sustainable trade so that the EPA, when implemented effectively, can ensure and contribute to sustainable development in the region; urges the Commission in the ex post evaluation of the EU-SADC EPA to analyse thoroughly the impact of the EPA on SDGs, informal and local economies, regional and pan-African integration, economic diversification, the fight against climate change, including the contribution of domestic industries to this effort, and the effective support of Global Gateway and the EU Aid for Trade programme in the context of the EU-SADC EPA; recalls that the present agreement primarily focuses on trade in goods and does not address trade in services, investment, or other issues such as intellectual property rights, competition, and public procurement; invites the parties to consider these issues in the future reviews, since a provision exists for negotiating on these matters in the future;

Removed2. Acknowledges that the preparation of the joint monitoring report on the EPA is advancing at a pace slower than anticipated; acknowledges the capacity constraints faced by SADC EPA States in this regard;

Added2. Reiterates its position on the importance of the involvement of civil society in the implementation and monitoring of the EPA; regrets the fact that limited civil society involvement during EPA implementation has been observed; emphasises, in this regard, the imperative of actively promoting civil society participation; notes that the active participation of civil society organisations and stakeholders, including women’s groups and students’ organisations, in the monitoring and evaluation process can provide valuable insights and feedback on the agreement’s impact on women and young people;

Added3. Acknowledges that the preparation of the joint monitoring report on the EPA is advancing at a pace slower than anticipated; acknowledges the capacity constraints faced by SADC EPA States in this regard; recalls that, pursuant to the new trade and sustainable development (TSD) approach, all relevant stakeholders, including civil society organisations, business representatives and trade unions, should be involved in this stocktaking exercise and encouraged to make proposals to maximise the effectiveness of the EPA and that the EPA should be modernised to establish a Domestic Advisory Group, which has become a common practice in other EPAs; advocates more structured participation of stakeholders with regard to the concrete implementation of all sustainability aspects in the EU-SADC EPA; urges SADC EPA States countries to comply with the commitments agreed under the EPA to engage civil society actors;

Added4. Recognises that flexible transitional arrangements are needed for SADC EPA States to comply with the TSD requirements in the EPA and with other international commitments;

Added5. Expects that, depending on the outcome of the review, the EPA will be adapted or possibly expanded in complementary agreements in order to consolidate and deepen the partnership between the EU and Southern African countries in response to geopolitical changes and to the challenges of climate change;

Added6. Welcomes the decarbonisation aspirations of Angola, a country that has been heavily reliant on its extractive industries;