Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

339. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he is aware of the planned signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement between the Southern African Development Community, SADC, and the European Union which is due to take place on 10 June 2016; that the agreement will be provisionally applied from 1 October 2016; his views that it will be provisionally applied by the SADC countries without waiting for their parliaments to vote on it; that the provisional application of international agreements is not foreseen in the constitutions or legal structures of most SADC countries; and if he will call for the signing to be suspended until the SADC countries are given appropriate time for the necessary parliamentary scrutiny and until voting on the agreement takes place. [15403/16]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the EU and its Member States and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States combine both trade and development provisions. The mandate for their negotiation derives from the Cotonou Agreement of 2000, between the EU and the ACP states. Their central objective is the reduction and eventual eradication of poverty, consistent with the objectives of sustainable development, and the gradual integration of the ACP countries into the world economy.

I obtained Government approval last month for the signing, subject to ratification, of the EU - Southern African Development Community (SADC) Economic Partnership Agreement. The Agreement was subsequently signed by Ireland, along with other EU Member States, in Brussels on 1 June, in advance of the formal signing ceremony in Botswana on 10 June.

This Agreement with Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland seeks to put trade at the service of development. It is an instrument for development, jobs and growth in the long-term. It seeks to support further trade diversification and regional integration in Southern Africa.

The EU has agreed with its SADC partners that the Agreement may be applied provisionally, given that the process of ratification by all EU Member States, is likely to be a lengthy one. The Council of the EU has duly authorised the EU to sign and provisionally apply the Agreement. Provisional application of the Agreement is, of course, linked to the legal requirements of relevant signatories and the need to maintain a trading regime between the EU and the SADC signatories which is compatible with the rules of the World Trade Organisation. Where a SADC state does not foresee the possibility of provisionally applying the Agreement before ratification, the Agreement will apply to that SADC state only after it has ratified it in accordance with its applicable constitutional or internal rules. Since the conclusion of the negotiations for the Agreement in July 2014, the EU has been working with the SADC signatories to achieve their ratification by 1 October 2016.

I look forward to active engagement with our SADC partners to ensure that this important trade and development Agreement can achieve its potential to support their development priorities and needs.