Activities of the ACP-EU Joint Assembly in 1996

The European Parliament adopted the report by Mrs Monica BALDI (UPE, I) on the work of the ACP-EU Joint Assembly in 1996. Underlining the role of the Assembly and its contribution to EU thinking on the challenges posed by the renewed framework of cooperation with ACP countries on the eve of the twenty-first century (COS0497), Parliament called for the role of the Assembly to be strengthened within the framework of this general debate. Parliament also reiterated that the European Development Fund (EDF) should be included in the budget so that it might be brought under real Parliamentary control. Emphasizing that it was in everyone's best interest to have close cooperation between the Member States and the Community in the field of development, Parliament undertook to safeguard the interests of these countries and to direct EU policy to the needs of the least privileged sectors of their populations by ensuring that projects for food, health and education figured largely during negotiations on the conduct of EU-ACP relations. Parliament also declared itself in favour of the continued review of the right of the community of States to intercede for humanitarian reasons. At the same time, it stressed the importance of maintaining preferential systems for the benefit of ACP countries, particularly with regard to cocoa, sugar and bananas. It also supported all initiatives designed to ban and eliminate the use of antipersonnel mines in these countries. At institutional level, Parliament called for the work of the Joint Assembly to be given full autonomy so that this body might be individually responsible for organizing its activities. Finally, Parliament recalled the significance of the entry into force of the Fourth Lomé Convention, as revised at Mauritius, and called on the signatories to ratify the Convention as quickly as possible. �