Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 113: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to the negative impact that existing European Union trade policies are having on Africa; his views on the EU's proposed Economic Partnership Agreements with Africa, whereby the EU's desire to secure African raw materials and EU commercial interests will take priority over fair trading policies. [25359/12]

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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The European Union is strongly committed to the promotion of sustainable and inclusive economic development in Africa. It employs a carefully differentiated approach to its engagement on trade with developing country partners.

Since 2002, the EU has been negotiating a series of new Economic Partnership Agreements with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States. They were necessitated by World Trade Organisation (WTO) rulings that the unilateral trade preferences previously granted to the ACP countries established unfair discrimination between developing countries.

Several years ago, there were well-founded concerns that momentum was being lost in the negotiations and that the original shared commitment to the achievement of Agreements which serve the development needs of African countries was being lost. However, agreement was reached at the EU-Africa Summit in November 2010 that both sides should move "to conclude Economic Partnership Agreements that support socio-economic development, regional integration and the integration of Africa into the global economy".

The European Commission last year engaged actively and flexibly in renewed negotiations at the regional level. It also adopted a proposal in September, which is to be considered by the European Parliament and the Council of Trade Ministers, to set a deadline of 1 January 2014 for the conclusion of the negotiations.

The Government has at all stages made it clear that Ireland supports a negotiating approach that is as flexible as possible under WTO law and underlines the importance of a strong partnership approach. I do not agree with the suggestion that, in the negotiating process, EU interests are prioritised above fair trading policies. Both EU and African leaders have recognised clearly the potential benefits of these Agreements and, at their most recent meeting in March, the EU Trade Ministers acknowledged the need for flexibility and pragmatism on both sides to find solutions to outstanding issues.

Ireland will continue to work with our partners for Agreements which clearly support the development priorities and needs of the African countries and we will engage positively with the Commission on these issues during our Presidency of the EU next year.