Response to the Article 'Are the Economic Partnership Agreements a First-best Optimum for the ACP Countries?' Perez, R. (2006) 40(6)

摘要

In the European Commission we welcome all research on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) being negotiated with the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions. It is important that we have an informed debate on this issue and certainly the dearth of quality data on Africa, in particular, is a problem for negotiators on both sides. Therefore, while we have concerns over the methodology and lack of attention to the non-tariff aspects of EPAs, including the legal security they offer, in general we welcome the questions raised in the recent article by Romain Perez from UNECA. However, we felt it important to respond to some of the assumptions within the article relating to the GSP, which in our opinion lead to unsound policy conclusions over its suitability as an alternative to EPAs.