Europe’s political and economic ‘alliance’ with former colonies assembled in the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific (OACPS) states appears to be in a moment of crisis and change in 2023. The Post-Cotonou treaty is in deadlock as a result of European populist revolt in relation to migration flows from the African continent, ongoing dispute surrounding apparent references to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) clauses, and the withdrawal of South Africa from the OACPS group itself. Meanwhile, new variants of COVID-19 emerge and threaten to disrupt recovery plans from the pandemic. Inflation continues to disrupt economic prosperity, not least in terms of monetary and budgetary turbulence in countries such as Ghana. The growing influence of the African Union and the of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) additionally calls into question the relevance of an OACPS grouping which does not include North African countries such as Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. In this context, this NEAR panel draws together critical scholarship examining the strategic position of the OACPS-EU relationship and whether this geopolitical alliance has a meaningful future in an international landscape marked by economic crisis, the pandemic, and political deadlock.

On the 12th of February 1976, the Georgetown Agreement that founded the Organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) entered into force, two months ahead of the international agreement that the 46 states had negotiated with the European Economic Community (EEC). The International Organisation (IO) subsequently opened a permanent secretariat in Brussels to support its growing membership in pursuing their aims and facilitate the cooperation with its European counterparts. The organisation’s interactions with and financial dependence on its European counterpart stand in contrast with its long-held ambitions to promote intra-ACP cooperation and manifest itself beyond Brussels. A revised Georgetown agreement adopted in 2019, which changed the Group of now 79 states’ acronym to OACPS and emphasised its IO status, was adopted amidst the negotiations of a new international agreement with the EU between 2018-2021 that remains to be signed and ratified. These changes notwithstanding, in September 2022 South-Africa as a main member and financial contributor decided to leave the organisation. This paper describes key institutional developments in the OACPS over time and assesses to what extent the IO can be considered in decline, with a key focus on the extent to which these were supported or hindered by its dependence on the EU.

This paper explores the implications of the ‘post-Cotonou’ process on the European Union (EU)’s relationship with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, from a interregionalism perspective. The ‘post-Cotonou’ agreement, concluded in 2021 between the EU and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS, formerly known as the ACP Group), signals potential important changes to this long-lasting relationship, which in the past tended to be described as a looser form of interregionalism. While official narratives have been relatively optimistic about the significance of the new Partnership Agreement for the future of this group-to-group relationship, more independent assessments have tended to be patently more moderate or even pessimistic. The paper maps and reviews the emergent policy and scholarly literature on the topic, drawing on the concept of regional actorness. Moreover, it revisits and tentatively updates existing contributions on the drivers of the ACP-EU interregional relationship, building on theoretical insights from the literature on comparative regionalism. This research will contribute to the literature on ACP/OACPS-EU relations and regionalism studies.

The fishing sector is a key contributor to employment, economic growth and food security within many African economies, particularly Ghana in West Africa. The European Union, as part of its self-described 'alliance' with African states, has promised to assist African fishing fleets to achieve sustainability while respecting the rights of small-scale fishers. In this context, the paper examines the geopolitics of fish in relation to the Africa-EU relationship with a focus on the tuna industry in Ghana. It explores recent tensions and anxieties surrounding Ghana's tuna exports amid the issuing of a European 'yellow card' with regards to fishing practices in the country. It considers the rationale and ongoing impact of EU regulations, and how they fit within broader global governance measures aimed toward realisation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It also considers the potential impact of EU Aid for Trade monies under NDICI for assisting private sector development and poverty reduction through assistance to the sector. Moreover, it considers the agency of the Ghanaian government and business people in their responses to EU regulations, and the long term trajectory of the tuna industry therein.