Geingob lays into EU

LAME excuses by the European Union (EU), as well as an unwillingness to commit their assurances to paper and treat Namibia as an equal partner, are some of the reasons the country has not yet signed an economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the trade block, according to Trade and Industry Minister Hage Geingob.

‘It is not that we don’t want to sign. Why else would we have provisionally initialled the interim EPA? We are genuinely trying,’ Geingob said on Friday, lifting the veil over the secretive negotiations which have been dragging on for two years.’We’ll sign when it’s right,’ he said.’Right’, according to Geingob’s press conference, means written assurances from the EU that the concerns they promised to address during heated deliberations at Swakopmund in March will indeed be dealt with in the negotiations for the full EPA. These, among others, include export taxes, infant industry protection, food security and the free circulation of goods.Geingob said Namibia originally wanted the interim EPA to be amended to include the changes.However, ‘the EU doesn’t want to hear the word amend’, he charged.The EU apparently refused to change the interim EPA, because the text was already translated in many languages and amending it would be ‘too much work’.’That’s a lame excuse,’ Minister Geingob said adding: ‘We’re not asking too much.’Namibia then asked that the EU’s commitments be included in an annexed declaration to the existing interim EPA. The EU rejected this proposal too.How can Namibia be sure that the EU will stick to its word on these crucial issues if it isn’t somehow recognised in the agreement, Geingob wanted to know.The next thing they knew, is that the EU, unlike a proper partner would have done, simply set a date for the SADC-EPA trade configuration to sign the interim agreement in Brussels on May 7 this year.’A partnership means that all partners are equal. Why else would you include the word partnership in the EPA? It also means transparency,’ Geingob said.The signing in Brussels was eventually postponed.’There’s a big difference between consultation and information,’ the Trade Minister said.Namibia might be a small country very concerned about its farming community, but the EU must not try and ‘bulldoze’ it, he said.Another precondition to Namibia signing the interim EPA is that the issues of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) clause and the Definition of Party (DoP) clause be resolved. The MFN clause requires Namibia to extend the same benefits it offers major trade partners like Brazil, India and China to all countries within the EU too. Geingob stressed that Namibia puts a premium on its South-South co-operation. EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton, in a letter to Geingob in March, said that they ‘attach great importance’ to the MFN issue as it deals with the ‘preventing discrimination against the EU in the future vis-à-vis other major trading partners’.’Why can’t we just negotiate on the MFN?’ Geingob asked Friday.As far as the DoP is concerned, critics argue it would require the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) to include Angola and Mozambique in the union, a move they fear will destabilise the union and threaten regional integration in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).Geingob made no secret of the importance Namibia places on regional integration.Sacu is not only one of Namibia’s biggest revenue sources, but it is also effective and the oldest custom union in the world. It has all the necessary infrastructure and can be a building block for the envisaged customs union for SADC, Geingob said.’Don’t do things that divide us within Sacu,’ Geingob warned the EU.He was referring to speculation that Namibia and South Africa will stick together and not sign the interim EPA, while fellow Sacu members, Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland, will go ahead and conclude the agreement.’Namibia won’t jeopardise integration by signing any EPA with the EU,’ Geingob said.Namibia is a sovereign country and sovereignty must not be confused with stubbornness, he said.’We’re talking about Africans standing together. Namibia places a high premium on that.’Geingob was also curious about the fact that EU insists on first negotiating an interim EPA and then a full EPA. Why not just negotiate a full EPA from the start, he wondered.’Surely something is wrong somewhere. This is a game people are playing,’ the Trade Minister said.jo-mare@namibian.com.na