Glenys Kinnock (PSE). – Mr President, as Michael Gahler said, clearly the Summit was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that there have been these acrimonious negotiations over economic partnership agreements (EPAs) and a relationship has indeed been soured by these negotiations, as much as the Commissioner and the Council have tried to work for a good partnership.

A number of heads of state raised their concerns, including the head of the African Union, Mr Konaré, who said that the Commission was playing African regions one off against the other. The General Affairs Council this week – rather disappointingly, for some of us – did not recommend the flexibility that many of us wanted to see, particularly towards the non-least-developed countries (non-LDCs), although, as I understand it, the UK and the Netherlands in particular were pressing for this to happen. Still that sword of Damocles is poised over the heads of the non-LDCs and they face the consequences, both economic and social, and economic shocks which, for us, ought to be absolutely unthinkable.

There are still concerns that have not been addressed on EPAs, on development assistance, on rules of origin and on commitments on the impact of agricultural subsidies. These are all things which the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states, in general, and Africa, in this case, were asking for. It is not enough for the Commission to say that those of us who criticise EPAs are somehow in the pockets of the non-governmental organisations, that the ACP states are misinformed and misled by people and that it is only trying to comply with World Trade Organisation rules. These kinds of argument really do not wash when we see the kind of dangerous situation the non-LDCs are in.

I want to say, finally, that our citizens in Europe will not accept any situation where, in 2008, any poor countries are worse off than they are at the moment, and we cannot stand and allow that to happen. We urge the Commission to show flexibility.