Two weeks ago, on ACP day – an event to the best of my knowledge not widely celebrated – an unusually frank and honest lecture was delivered at the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM). This is the Europe- based strategic think tank with a positive and long-standing reputation for being supportive of the countries of the ACP.
What was said was unusually challenging and valid, in that the remarks, albeit delivered in a personal capacity, came from someone who is widely known and respected across Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific, and in EU government circles, because of his deep commitment to the importance of development policy and the nations of the ACP: Geert Laporte, the Deputy Director of ECDPM.
Mr Laporte‘s approach was to ask some fundamental questions about the future validity of the ACP as an institution. Instead of posing the usual question about the desirability of the 79 nation ACP group continuing, he asked whether there was any realistic or feasible basis on which the ACP could be considered to have a future role in relation to
