It is time for Poland to lift their block on the post-Cotonou treaty

Political and economic relations between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific community have been held hostage by Hungary and now Poland. This must end, writes Carlos Zorrinho.

Carlos Zorrinho MEP is the Co-Chair of the EU-African, Caribbean and Pacific community joint parliamentary assembly and a member of the Socialists and Democrats group.

What’s wrong with it? Why are first Hungary and now Poland blocking the European ratification of the post-Cotonou Agreement? On the contrary, why could giving the green light to this important new international legal framework be fundamental in facilitating multilateralism over conflicts and breaches of international law? 

Many of these questions clearly need to be debated and answered at the 43rd session of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly which began in Brussels on Saturday (24 July) and runs until Wednesday 28 June between the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and the European Union (ACP-EU JPA). In the meantime, the EU and the ACP Countries have just decided to extend by 4 months the old Cotonou Agreement. We acknowledge the necessity of this extension to avoid a legal void from 1 July. However, we cannot accept that a single member State jeopardises a partnership of over one hundred countries from four different continents. 

In a context of transformation and potential fracture in international and economic relations, the partnership between equals that the post-Cotonou Agreement reflects is a path of urgent need for the EU, African, Pacific and Caribbean countries. There is no more time for shortcuts or internal cheap political tricks. If we want to seriously face common challenges such as climate change, terrorism, food security, poverty and human rights: global cooperation and mutual understanding through a partnership between equals is the best way forward. 

We should finally stop looking at all these challenges solely through the prism of migration and security. Instead, we should acknowledge the challenges, and act accordingly to alleviate the clear disproportion among the causes and the places of origin of crises and the places where their consequences are more severe and widespread, mainly in the African continent and among the Caribbean and Pacific islands.  

These disproportionate effects can be easily identified in the consequences of climate change in developing countries – mainly provoked by the most developed areas of the world – with the increase of drought, famine, displacement, and conflicts, but also with the shortage of grain from Ukraine and fertilisers from Russia, due to the war.  

A concrete example sadly resulting from the conflict is the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam whose flooding killed several persons and, among other countless harms, ruined many grain fields. Nobody really knows the extent of the lost grains and no one dares to imagine how this will directly impact on food security in the African continent in the coming months. 

We want to regulate the migration flows? Well, we must ensure people do not face crippling food insecurity in Africa and do not need to flee because of terrorism or a lack of a decent future. We must work together as partners in co-creation finding and implementing solutions, and not as predators. Only as equals in multilateralism can we deal with all these interlinked challenges. 

Hence the importance of the post-Cotonou Agreement, which is certainly not a panacea but covers several topics such as good governance, the fight against corruption, rule of law, human rights, migration, and the need for universal access to quality and affordable education and health information. Furthermore, the post-Cotonou Agreement provides the legal basis for the European Investment Bank to lend in the 79 African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries. These are concrete deeds if we want to try to offer solutions through a co-created partnership as an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. 

This is the time for courage – the time to finally turn the page of confrontation and begin a phase of multilateralism among equals. Therefore, this Assembly will send a clear message to the European Council and to the government of Poland: let’s stop holding the post-Cotonou Agreement hostage. Let’s give us all a chance for a better future, and the 1.5 billion people that deserve the best.