EU/Andean Community: negotiating guidelines for an association agreement

The European Parliament adopted a resolution based on the own-initiative report drafted by Luís YAÑEZ-BARNUEVO GARCÍA (PES, ES) containing a recommendation to the Council on the negotiating mandate for an association agreement between the EU and the Andean Community. The report was adopted by 470 votes in favour to 29 against with 65 abstentions. It stated that the negotiating guidelines for the future agreement must not overlook the serious economic, political and social deficit that exists in most of the Andean countries, nor ignore the differences in development between the two regions or the nature of economic relations within the CAN itself.

The key points of the recommendation were as follows:

- the legal basis on which the new association agreement is to be negotiated should include Article 300(3), second subparagraph (under which the European Parliament must give its assent to the agreement);

- the Council must include in the negotiating guidelines clear signals of support to the CAN members in their efforts to deepen all aspects of regional integration, fostering an agreement between regional blocs which would certainly not exclude the differentiated treatment which the development of the integration process within the CAN requires;

- it must also include in the negotiating mandate the EU-CAN consensus on shared responsibility for fighting drug trafficking, and promote alternative employment and crops and market access for them, and specific control mechanisms designed to reduce the related crimes of money laundering and arms trafficking;

- as in the case of the accord with Central America (see INI/2006/2222), not only must the ‘democracy clause’, other social clauses and environmental clauses be included; the mandate must also refer explicitly to the specific mechanisms which ensure that they are applied and provide for an annual report to Parliament on the follow-up carried out by the Commission in this area;

- foreign investment is an essential element for the economic development of both regions and the Council must stress that European undertakings with investments in the CAN should be expected to apply the same standards as regards working conditions and investment as are observed in the EU, and that the legal security of investors should be guaranteed on the basis of private international law and with full respect for the principle of national sovereignty over natural resources;

-the Council must consider the objectives of support for Andean regional integration – in particular, integration of physical, transport, communications and energy infrastructures – into the objectives of the next mandate for European Investment Bank action in Latin America and Asia, so that EIB action would effectively complement the new agreement;

- as a demonstration of tangible, decisive support for the Andean regional integration process, there must be no question of making the conclusion of the EU-Andean Community agreement subject to prior completion of the WTO round negotiations.