Donna Block
Last June, President Nelson Mandela made an unexpected appearance at a European Union summit in Cardiff, Wales, hoping that his arrival might prompt the signing of a promised bilateral trade deal. But the Europeans would not put pen to paper.
Six months later at a summit in Vienna, Austria, they promised a deal by the end of the year and that did not happen. Last week it seemed that a draft compromise agreement was finally ready to be ratified when, at the last minute, five nations issued reservations and the pact was once again put on hold. Possibly for the last time.
The South African trade agreement had been hailed as a ground-breaking first for the bloc and a model for the EU’s future trade relationship with the countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
“If I was asked my personal opinion, I would say it would be a political disaster for the EU to fail to conclude this agreement. It would manifestly indicate they are incapable of accommodating the needs of developing countries,” said Minister of Trade and Industry Alec Erwin.
This week, the EU has shown itself to be hypocritical and uncompromising, while pretending to be generous in its efforts to conclude these negotiations.
The European Community has never enthusiastically embraced the pact. Observers have noted that European leaders are not about to put South Africa before the interests of their farmers and wine-growers.
The dissenting member states are said to have expressed concern about the degree of access the draft deal will give to South African agricultural products. Most of the complaints appear to be coming from Spain, which says its soft fruit and vegetable producers carry too much of the burden of concessions made by the EU.
Erwin said this was cause for concern because “matters which have not been under discussion for months now – we all thought they were agreed – have been reopened”.
Other unofficial reservations voiced this week by France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and later Greece to the compromise deal was that it is “too generous” to South Africa.
The main stumbling block to the draft agreement is thought to be South Africa’s use of the terms “sherry” and “port” for its fortified wines over the next 12 years. Spain and Portugal want South Africa to phase out the names sooner.
EU nations are fiercely protective of their exclusive claims to the age-old wine labels. The EU believes the terms should only be used for sherry produced around Jerez in southern Spain and porto produced in the Duoro region of northern Portugal.
The EU has an objective of making these terms exclusive to their geographic areas under the Trade Related Intellectual Property (Trips) agreement in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The Trips agreement would introduce a new form of intellectual property protection defined by a geographic category.
But guidelines have yet to be voted on by the WTO – if the EU wins their case, South Africa will have to stop using the terms in 12 years.
Under the draft accord, South Africa has agreed to phase out the use the names for exports to most parts of the world within five years, and within eight for exports to neighbouring countries. For the domestic market, the deal calls for both sides to agree to acceptable terms within 12 years.
Local vintners say sales of their wine labelled port or sherry are worth about $123- million, of which 13% comes from exports. It will not be easy to eliminate these terms completely
Nonetheless, Erwin said in a prepared statement that the “conflicting issues are not only about the port and sherry markets, which are not in any proportion to the overall value of the agreement. The issue is whether South Africa needs to concede on an issue within the Trips.”
Erwin noted that South Africa “can and will do many things” between now and the next meeting of the EU general council in order to try to secure an agreement.
EU foreign ministers are not due to meet again until March 22, days before the South African Parliament is dissolved and the country prepares for elections. By the time the new Parliament reconvenes, the European Parliament will be in the midst of its own elections. Europeans traditionally take a holiday for the month of August, which means the trade deal will most likely be put on the agenda in September – leaving just four months until the European Commission ends its term of office.
Four years ago, the presidents and prime ministers of the EU offered Mandela generous economic assistance in the promise of a bilateral trade agreement. Now, more than 20 rounds of talks later, South Africa is still patiently waiting for the member states to fulfil their pledge.