LaRocque concerned over impact of new EU development policy

Caribbean Forum of African Caribbean States (CARIFORUM) Secretary General Irwin LaRocque has expressed concern over the possibility of a decrease in development assistance from the European Union (EU) under the new EU Development Policy.
Addressing the 20th meeting of the CARIFORUM Council of Ministers in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic on Thursday, the secretary general referred to the new policy, and pointed out that it threatened to cast a shadow over CARIFORUM-EU relations which had matured and broadened to the benefit of both parties.
The new EU Development Policy includes a reassessment of the EU’s assistance to middle-income countries. “A disquieting aspect of this approach, better known as differentiation, is based exclusively on macro-economic referents like GDP, GNP [Gross National Product], and per capita income in individual CARIFORUM states.  If applied without taking into consideration the vulnerability and the limited resilience of the small economies of CARIFORUM, not to mention the acute levels of poverty in numerous communities, this will have a negative impact on certain programmes and the levels of assistance to be allocated to some of our CARIFORUM states under the 11th EDF. In a word, our concern is that the quantum of assistance from our major development partner will be decreased,” he told his audience at the opening ceremony.

New partnership strategy
The CARIFORUM secretary general added that shaping the new relationship with the EU will be examined at a time when a “new partnership strategy is taking form and a new EU Development Policy and approach to budget support is being fashioned, threatening to cast a long shadow over CARIFORUM-EU relations in the years to come.”
The policy is one of the matters to be discussed during the meeting which the secretary general described as one of the most important of the 20-year history of CARIFORUM. “In order to further discuss the important issue of the future of EU development assistance, on the initiative of the chair of CARIFORUM, ministers will have the opportunity to engage Mr Christian Leffler, Managing Director for the Americas of the European External Action Service, who will be addressing this meeting on issues of mutual interest, including the vital issue of differentiation,” LaRocque announced.
Among the other items for discussion are the governance of CARIFORUM; review of the status of the ninth and 10th European Development funds (EDF) programming and implementation, and consideration of a prospective 11th EDF Programme; the implementation of the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA); and CARIFORUM’s engagement in the first EU-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Summit scheduled for January.  Dominican Republic President Danilo Medina delivered the feature address at the opening ceremony.