A word from the chair

The Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly met in Strasbourg on Thursday 16 February to discuss mainly the preparation of the meetings of the standing committees and the Bureau of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, 1-2 March 2023 in Brussels (Belgium).

Link to the meeting documents.

Link to the recorded meeting.

The Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly met in Strasbourg on Thursday 15 December to discuss mainly:

• the EU Election Observation Mission (EOM) to the parliamentary elections in Lesotho (7 October 2022) and
• the evaluation and follow-up of the 42nd Session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and of the meetings of the standing committees, in Maputo (Mozambique), 29 October -2 November 2022.

Link to the meeting documents.

Link to the recorded meeting.

The Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly met in Strasbourg on Thursday 6 October and elected Max Oetjen (Renew) as new 1st Vice-Chair of the Committee on Political Affairs to replace Catherine Bearder (Renew), who left the European Parliament after the Brexit.

Furthermore, Members discussed the preparations of the 42nd JPA plenary session, which will take place in Maputo in Mozambique from 29 October to 2 November 2022.

Link agenda.

The Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly met in Strasbourg on Thursday7 July and elected Max Orville (Renew) as new 1st Vice-Chair to replace Chrysoula Zacharopoulou (Renew), who left the European Parliament to become State Secretary in the French government.

Furthermore, Members discussed which topics could be subject of committee reports and urgent resolutions at the forthcoming JPA session in Maputo (29.10.-2.11.2022).

Link agenda

Link to the recorded meeting

The Delegation to the ACP-EU JPA met on Thursday 12 May in Brussels.

The Members of the delegation elected Eric Andrieu (S&D) as 6th Vice-President, replacing Pietro Bartolo (S&D) and Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana (Greens/EFA) as 7th Vice-President, replacing Tineke Strik (Greens/EFA) and evaluated the Joint Parliamentary Assembly plenary meeting that took place in Strasbourg 1-3 April. They also took stock of the drafting of Rules of Procedure for the new JPA and the Regional Parliamentary Assemblies that will be set up under the post-Cotonou Partnership Agreement EU-OACPS.

The video recording of the meeting is available here.

Statement on the situation in Burkina Faso, following the detainment of President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré

Statement by David McAllister, Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Tomas Tobé, Chair of the Committee on Development, and Carlos Zorrinho, Chair of the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly:

"We are following with great concern the developments in Burkina Faso and strongly condemn the military coup against the democratically elected government under President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré. We call for the immediate and unconditional release of President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré and any other members of his government in detention.

"We insist on an immediate return to civilian-led government, to restore parliament, the constitutional order, and the rule of law in Burkina Faso. We urge military leaders to return their forces to the barracks and protect the country's institutions."

Background

President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was detained on Sunday and is being held by military forces, who have since made a statement that they are seizing power in Burkina Faso.

The human rights situation in Burundi was discussed with several experts in a meeting of the Subcommittee on Human Rights, hold in association with the ACP Delegation on Monday, 15 November, 15:15-16:15.

The EU ambassador to Burundi and human rights defenders provided inputs.

Since 2016, Burundi has been excluded from most EU development funds and subjected to sanctions due to human rights violations, but following recent changes in Burundi EU Member States are currently considering lifting sanctions and resuming aid.

Links:

Webstreaming

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/droi/meetings/webstreaming

Meeting documents

https://emeeting.europarl.europa.eu/emeeting/committee/en/archives/DROI

29-10-2021

The Chairs of the DEVE, AFET and INTA Committees and of the Delegation for relations with the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly call for the swift signature of Partnership Agreement

In joint letters addressed to the 27 EU ministers for development, Tomas Tobé, David McAllister, Bernd Lange and Carlos Zorrinho, in their capacity as - respectively - the Chairs of the DEVE, AFET and INTA Committees and Chair of the Delegation for relations with the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, call for the swift signature of the Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the members of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS).

Nine months after a political agreement on the text was reached, and over five months since the initialling of the Agreement, the Chairs believe that it is of the utmost importance to overcome any remaining divisions and move forward with the signature of the modernised agreement.

In their joint letters, the Chairs underline the potential of this future agreement to enhance the political partnership between the EU and the ACP, one which covers important issues like climate change, migration and peace and security.

Tomas Tobé, Chair of the Committee on Development, said:

"EU Member States and the Commission have had ample time to exhaustively discuss the specificities of the modernised Agreement between the EU and the Members of the OACPS. At this critical juncture, with the end date of the Cotonou Agreement in sight, Parliament firmly insists on receiving the request for consent from the Council. Swift ratification is equally important on both the side of the OACPS and the EU."

On 8 and 9 October, the European Youth Event (EYE) took place both at the European Parliament in Strasbourg and online, bringing together youth to shape and share their ideas on the future of Europe.

One of the highlights was the open debate between young people and MEPs on the topic "What future for the Africa-EU relationship?" It took place on Friday 8 October from 16:00 to 18:00 with the presence of around 80 youngsters and 7 MEPs.

Participants were invited to discuss with Members the way forward in order to build a new and reinforced Africa-EU partnership, building on the acquis of the current Joint Africa Europe Strategy.

The debated topics included:

· youth, peace and security,

· the impact of climate change on Europe and Africa,

· the Post-Cotonou agreement,

· the potential of the rapidly growing African youth and of European youth for development, welfare and socio-economic progress, diaspora involvement and memory culture.

The young participants were invited to draft conclusions to be shared after with all the participants, the MEPs working with Africa, the European Commission and the European External Action Service.

The following MEPs participated at the event: Alviina Alametsä, Michael Gahler, Monica Silvana Gonzalez, Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, Rainer Wieland and Carlos Zorrinho.

https://european-youth-event.europarl.europa.eu/en