On the occasion of the 33rd ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary assembly in Malta,&nbsp;Louis MICHEL (ALDE,BE), Co-Chair, expresses himself on the importance of the ACP-EU Assembly and the future of the Cotonou agreement&nbsp;

statement

MICHEL, Louis (ALDE, BE)

Malta

33rd ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (T)

Cotonou Agreement

33rd ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary assembly: statement by Louis MICHEL (ALDE,BE), Co-Chair, on the importance of the ACP-EU Assembly and the future of the Cotonou agreement

SOUNDBITE (French), Louis MICHEL (ALDE, BE), Chaif or the EP delegation and co-Chair of the ACP-EU Assembly, on the quality of the dialogue and the exchanges of views amongst members of the ACP-EU assembly which is a way of enriching democracy, mutual respect as well as reproaching things to each other, without moralizing

SOUNDBITE (French), Louis MICHEL (ALDE, BE), Chaif or the EP delegation and co-Chair of the ACP-EU Assembly, Pascal Lamy and myself, both former Commissioners, we have been charged by Commissioner MIMICA with the task of making a round of heads of state and governments of the ACPO countries to seek their views on the post-Cotunou agreements, as they are not binding for now, but we are favourable to make them binding.

SOUNDBITE (French), Louis MICHEL (ALDE, BE), Chaif or the EP delegation and co-Chair of the ACP-EU Assembly, on the new structure of the ACP, we do not want to implode the structure and we would like to keep a coherent umbrella with a strategic view on mind; we are stronger if we can speak with a single voice as we saw during the COP21. At the same time, we need to take into account the specificities of each region as regards the development policies: African, Caribbean and Pacific regions have their own specificities and those must be enshrined in the new structure.

SOUNDBITE (French), Louis MICHEL (ALDE, BE), Chaif or the EP delegation and co-Chair of the ACP-EU Assembly, this is a real opportunity for bringing in a new pot-Cotonou dynamic, a much more equilibrated dynamic between the North and the South.