Roberts
VICE-PRESIDENT OF the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), Danny Roberts, said that as a consequence of the European Union's decision to change the existing preferential arrangements for sugar and bananas, Jamaica and other African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries are expected to face annual losses of -¤500 million and ¤700 million, respectively on sugar and banana productions.
The result of this for small, vulnerable countries like Jamaica, and the Eastern Caribbean, he said, will mean significant growth in unemployment, loss of foreign exchange earnings, serious decline in domestic savings, adverse impact on income distribution, increased poverty rates, social inequity and political instability with negative impact on tourism.
CONTRARY TO AGREEMENT
Speaking at a Jamaica Manufacturers' Association forum on 'The Impact of the Phasing-out of Sugar and Banana Preferences on Small, Open Economies' this week, Mr. Roberts said that the EU's decision to phase out preferential treatment for the region's sugar and banana imports is contrary to the spirit of the Cotonou Agreement signed between the ACP group and the EU in 2000.
He said the action will undermine the region's attempt to reduce poverty and meet its development goals over the next decade.
He noted that the argument about 'special and differential' treatment for the region, and the need for dialogue and consultation on changes are principled and correct positions which are outlined in the agreement, and should not be seen as a mendicant role to seek special privileges from our former colonisers.
He argued that the ¤40 million offered to the 18 ACP countries is an insult, since the EU has committed some ¤13.5 billion in financial resources to the group, of which ¤9.9 billion is the remaining balances from previously agreed on development programmes.
The JCTU vice-president observed that more than 160 years ago, a similar debate took place during the end of the slave trade, with similar arguments about overproduction of sugar, compensation for the large sugar producers and the integration of the colonies as part of the 19th century world economy.
Mr. Roberts warned that "sugar and bananas are but the first casualties in a process of globalism where trade and commercial considerations take precedence over the rights of elected governments, environ-mental issues, and workers' and consumers' rights."
He insisted that the trade unions and civil society must take the debate about the iniquitous rules of the WTO to the streets of the Caribbean in popular discussions so as to give moral support to the regional negotiating machinery.
