Nevertheless, he said the Heads discussed some provisions and made some changes to those which they had hoped would have informed the discussions over the next few weeks. When asked what the provisions were in relation to sugar he did not elaborate.

Double standards

Jagdeo also expressed concern that the EU does not want Cariforum countries to send sugar into the French overseas territories (DOMs) of Martinique and Guadeloupe for the next 15 years. And at the same time they do not want the Cariforum countries to reciprocate as in the case of installing similar safeguards to protect sugar or bananas entering Cariforum countries from the DOMs.

"They find that it is okay to protect their territories that are not based in Europe - the double standards for safeguards…," he contended.

Along the same lines, he noted that in the liberalisation of services, the EU does not want to allow the region's entertainers to enter Europe because they consider the region's entertainment industry, considered a creative industry, as culture in Europe. "They have an issue about cultural liberalisation. It is one of the major services we provide to the world. They are claiming exception to this. They want to exclude this from the agreement because they say entertainment is part of culture and the French are sensitive to the cultural issues. It is really ridiculous," he said.

Noting that the Heads gave the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery the mandate to try reaching an agreement on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) to meet the December 31 deadline, Jagdeo said that it was necessary "because of the vindictiveness of certain officials in Europe. We cannot trust them not to put in place this punitive tariff (General System of Preferences)... Therefore we have a trade-off between carrying a hard line of not reaching agreement and the prospect of our exports being faced with a punitive tax which could harm them irreparably."

While in Uganda at the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit, Jagdeo said that he met with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his team and registered his concern that the European Commission was "consistently bullying" the ACP countries to conclude negotiations on the EPAs by December 31 or face punitive tariffs.

The EPA negotiations are part of the framework created through the Cotonou Agreement, which expires on December 31, 2007, which made provisions for the preservation of its benefits in the EPAs while ensuring World Trade Organisation (WTO) compatibility, and with the changes being effected through dialogue.

Jagdeo noted that Europe has several agreements that are not (World Trade Organisation) compatible, including their own agriculture subsidies. "But we don't see any haste in them seeking to address that. In this case they want us to be WTO compatible immediately… from the time the Cotonou agreement expires. They want us to comply with WTO rules," he said.

He said that the EU could have extended the period of the negotiations to allow for proper negotiations to reach a good EPA to cope with the prospect of liberalisation and put in place the development dimension which was enshrined in the Cotonou agreement.

Economic blackmail

However, he said, the EU does not want that to happen and always refers to "some ridiculous provisions, which we have to basically give in to."

He said further that regardless of all the best efforts of the regional negotiators and the fact that Cariforum and the EU may well reach agreement on the EPA in the next few weeks, "that does not change the way it is being negotiated" in terms of "economic blackmail."

He said he doubts that "the capitals (of EU member countries) subscribe to this view." He felt that many were not aware of what was happening, adding that the British have said they were not party to any undue haste to reach agreement under duress. (Miranda La Rose)