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Europe and the ACP

For many years, the European Union has had a special relationship with the countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP), which include many of the world's poorest countries, as well as some of its smallest island states. The EU's development policies therefore focus in particular on the ACP states.

The ACP Group today consists of 79 Member-States: 48 countries from Sub-Saharan Africa, 16 from the Caribbean and 15 from the Pacific. The ACP secretariat website includes a list of ACP countries. The website of the EU's Directorate General for Development (DG Dev) also gives useful information on the ACP countries and EU-ACP co-operation.

The special relationship was set out first in the Lomé Convention of 1975, and more recently in the EU-ACP Cotonou Agreement of 2000 (which covers all ACP states except Cuba). There were further amendments to the Cotonou Agreement in 2005 which are very important, since the role of "local decentralised authorities" is now given much more emphasis.

The Agreement now says that local authorities, as well as "non-State actors" should be ("where appropriate")

  • informed and involved in consultation on cooperation policies and strategies, on priorities for cooperation especially in areas that concern or directly affect them, and on the political dialogue;
  • provided with financial resources, under the conditions laid down in the Agreement in order to support local development processes;
  • involved in the implementation of cooperation project and programmes in areas that concern them or where they have a comparative advantage;
  • provided with capacity-building support in critical areas in order to reinforce their capabilities, particularly as regards organisation and representation, and the establishment of consultation mechanisms including channels of communication and dialogue, and to promote strategic alliances.

The European Development Fund is the main instrument for financing EU-ACP co-operation. The 10th EDF covers the period 2008 – 2013, with a budget for this period of some €22 billion.