Introduction

Flags of the ACP member states in front of a meeting room in the European Parliament in Brussels. On the side a banner which reads
© European Union (2015) - European Parliament

The Samoa Agreement

Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the members of the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States

On 15 November 2023, the European Union (EU) and its Member States signed a new partnership agreement (referred to as the 'Samoa Agreement') with member states of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS).

The Samoa Agreement between the Organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), which was negotiated from September 2018 to November 2023, replaces the Cotonou Agreement.

The multiple negotiation levels, the coronavirus crisis and difficulties in reaching agreement on sensitive issues prevented the new agreement from being finalised by the initial expiry date (2020) set in the Cotonou Agreement.

The Samoa agreement is provisionally applied since January 2024, and further legal procedures will be required before it can enter fully into force for the next 20 years, notably ratification by at least two-thirds (53) of OACPS members.

The Samoa Agreement is based on six key priorities:

  1. human rights, democracy and governance;
  2. peace and security;
  3. human and social development;
  4. inclusive, sustainable economic growth and development;
  5. environmental sustainability and climate change; and
  6. migration and mobility.

Institutional set-up

The existing OACPS-EU-wide institutions are maintained:

  • OACPS-EU Council of Ministers,
  • OACPS-EU Committee of Ambassadors,
  • OACPS-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, and
  • possibility to organise heads of state or government summits.

In addition, regionalisation is harnessed by the creation of:

  • three (joint) regional councils of Ministers and
  • three (joint) regional parliamentary assemblies (for the Africa-EU, Caribbean-EU and Pacific-EU components respectively).


OACPS-EU Parliamentary Assemblies

The OACPS-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) is a unique and permanent democratic institution that brings together an equal number of elected Members of Parliament from the African, Caribbean and Pacific states and Members of the European Parliament.

In addition, the Samoa agreement also provides for the setting up of three Regional Parliamentary Assemblies (RPAs) for Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

These RPAs will bring together Members of the European Parliament and parliamentarians from the OACPS countries, who will at the same time be Members of the JPA, thus ensuring links between the different pillars and levels of the partnership.

The JPA aims to monitor the progress of the partnership and its contribution to the social and economic development of OACPS, as well as trade relations. To this ends, the JPA discusses and adopts resolutions on a variety of issues covered by the partnership, makes recommendations and contributes to parliamentary oversight.

Current composition and working methods

Under the Samoa Agreement, the representatives of the 78 OACPS nations meet their 78 European Parliament counterparts in a Joint Plenary Assembly (JPA) once a year, alternately in an OACPS country and an EU country.

The three Regional Parliamentary Assemblies (RPSs) shall meet once a year, alternately in an OACPS country and an EU country.

The OACPS representatives must under normal circumstances be Members of Parliament. The JPA adopted its own Rules of Procedure to establish its way of functioning and ensure sound democratic practices.

The parliaments of the OACPS and the political groups in the European Parliament shall ensure at least 30% representation of women in all bodies established under the Assembly.

The JPA elects 2 Co-Presidents, one from the OACPS house and one from the EU house, to direct its work, and also elects 22 Vice-Presidents (10 Members of the Bureau of the Africa-EU RPA, 6 Members of the Bureau of the Caribbean-EU RPA and 6 Members of the Bureau of the Pacific-EU RPA).

The two Co-Presidents and the 22 Vice-Presidents constitute the JPA Bureau. The Bureau meets at least four times a year in order to ensure the continuity of the JPA's work and to prepare new initiatives aiming in particular to boost and improve cooperation. It also considers topical political questions and adopts positions on all human rights cases.

The Assembly regularly organises exploratory or fact-finding missions. JPA and RPA Members are thus in direct contact with the situation on the ground in the various developing countries which are signatories of the Samoa Agreement.

At each plenary session of the Assembly, the Bureau shall convene an OACPS-EU Women's Forum. That Forum shall advocate for women's rights and gender equality in accordance with Article 36 of the OACPS-EU Partnership-Agreement.

At each plenary session of the Assembly, the Bureau shall convene an OACPS-EU Youth Forum, in which young people are invited by the responsible Vice-Presidents, in order to deepen the people-to-people dimension of the partnership and to promote youth empowerment and active participation of young people in accordance with Article 35 of the OACPS-EU Partnership Agreement.