The Commonwealth Caribbean and Europe: The End of the Affair?

Clegg, Peter

Abstract

© 2015 The Round Table Ltd. Abstract: The institutional relationship between the Commonwealth Caribbean and the European Union (EU) dates back to the mid-1970s, when the Lomé Convention was signed. The agreement was seen as a high water mark in First–Third World relations. However, since then the bond has come under concerted pressure. The consequence is that today the particularism that underpinned relations for so long has almost vanished and the EU is beginning to treat the Caribbean like any other relatively marginal region of the world. The article evaluates the reasons for this change, in particular: the scrapping of the trade protocols; the erosion of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) preference due to free trade agreements signed by the EU; the refocusing of EU development policy towards the least developed countries; and the split in the ACP group with the creation of an ill-designed regional Economic Partnership Agreement. The article places these changes into starker relief by assessing briefly the deepening links between the United Kingdom Overseas Territories and the EU. However, as the article highlights, this link will neither reboot nor sustain the more important Commonwealth Caribbean–EU relationship.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Aug 20, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 8, 2017
• Journal: Round Table
• Print ISSN: 0035-8533
• Electronic ISSN: 1474-029X
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 104
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 429-440
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2015.1063841
• Keywords: Commonwealth Caribbean, European Union, Lomé Convention, trade liberalisation, development, United Kingdom Overseas Territories, ACP preference, trade protocols
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/829873
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2015.1063841
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in The Round table on 8 July 2015, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2015.1063841
• Contract Date: Apr 9, 2016