“Free Trade Areas as a Model for Future EU-ACP Relations”

Faber, Gerrit. (1999) “Free Trade Areas as a Model for Future EU-ACP Relations” . In European Union Studies Association (EUSA) > Biennial Conference > 1999 (6th), June 2-5, 1999, Pittsburgh, PA.

Abstract

The FTA approach to the renewal of the Lomé Convention presents a number of questions. The first is, whether FTAs between the ACP countries and the EU will produce better results than the present system. Second, even if promising on theoretical grounds, is it likely that (groups of) ACP countries will be able to conclude viable FTAs with the EU? This paper will address the former question and provides an economic analysis of the FTA approach for the future EU-ACP relations, while limited attention will be paid to the latter question. The composition of the paper is as follows. In the second section the background for the new approach is given. The third section presents the economic theory of integration in order to explain the effectiveness of the present and the new approach. The fourth section formulates the conditions that have to be met to make FTAs successful. The fifth section addresses the question whether the new approach will work in practice. Conclusions are drawn in the sixth section.