Activities of the ACP-EU Joint Assembly in 1996

The committee (President : Mr Michel ROCARD, PSE, F) unanimously adopted the report by Mrs Monica BALDI (UPE, I) on the work of the EU-ACP Joint Assembly in 1996. In this connection it repeated the need for the European Development Fund to be included in the budget so that it might be brought under proper Parliamentary control and called for the Joint Assembly to be involved in the discussions and negotiations on the conduct of relations with the ACP countries. The committee declared that the interests of these countries had to be protected and that EU policy should be based on the needs of the least privileged sections of their populations by way of projects for food, health and education. It stressed the need for maintaining preferential systems for the benefit of the ACP countries, particularly with regard to cocoa, sugar and bananas. Finally, the committee declared its support for the continued review of the right to intercede for humanitarian reasons. �