With development and political progress in ACP countries, is the current partnership simply outdated? We ask Presidents Louis Michel and Fitz Jackson what lies ahead post-2020.

Do the nuts and bolts of the ACP-EU Partnership need changing?

ACP countries and the EU  have a special bond.

In 2020 our partnership, also known as the  Cotonou Agreement, will come to an end.

But what will happen next? Is the EU still  the ACP countries’ best friend?

We asked the Co-Presidents of the  ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly,

Fitz Jackson and Louis Michel, their take  on where the relationship is heading.

The Cotonou Agreement is due in 2020.  What will happen next?

Especially when it comes  to financing ACP structures?

As countries emerge, the structure of  the relationship needs to be adjusted

And I believe the next round  of the post-Cotonou Agreement

will seek to factor in that going forward.

From the EU's point of view,  there are some issues.

Do we need to we stay in the ACP format?

Would it not be better to for example have  a much stronger Africa-EU partnership

and to move the Caribbean and Pacific  countries back to their respective zones?

The ACP consortium was created  to give an economic boost to its members.

40 years later, is the initiative a failure?

No, but I’d go a bit further.  It was not just to create a boost,

it’s a mechanism to compensate  for some of the distortions

that existed in most of  the ACP countries prior to.

It sought to redress that imbalance  that existed before.

No, I don't know why  the question of failure should arise.

We should think about where the ACP  countries would be without the EU's aid.

Let's remember that 60% of the ACP's  public development aid comes from the EU,

And one major difference is that the EU's  assistance comes as donations, not loans,

so in a way we're helping the ACP countries  to pay off their debts.

Seven Caribbean countries benefit  from visa waiver agreements with the EU.

Could that be extended  to other ACP countries?

The ability of member states  of the ACP group to migrate

is of enormous importance  in terms of economic development.

In the ACP countries we don’t only produce  commodities, we also provide services,

and the ability of professionals  in ACP countries

to access markets of the European Union  and to provide those services

is of tremendous importance  to ACP countries.

So yes, we would love  for that to be extended.

I'm really trying to ensure  our relationships are visa-free,

especially when they are parliamentarians,  representatives of institutions.

And we're making good progress. I hope  we can settle this in the coming months.

Isn't aid an outdated way  to help ACP countries?

by making sure multinationals  pay their taxes where they are due?

Just as the European Parliament  is trying to do for the EU?

It's a bit wearisome to always hear  the Western multinationals criticised.

Those who are first and foremost  responsible for plundering Africa's riches,

in a number of countries,  are not the multinationals.

They are sometimes the officials  of those countries.

It is for the African partner countries  to put in place a framework.

Well, the ACP countries do not have  an appetite or a preference for aid.

We have always said that we are more  appreciative of developmental assistance

And ACP countries want to move  from dependency to interdependency,

but without neglecting where  we are coming from and where we are.