Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:

Documents concerning the first version of the Cotonou Agreement (2000):
European Commission minutes & reports of discussions on the trade relations (Economic Partnership Agreements) under the Cotonou Agreement (1998-2000)
Proposals and consultation papers for the Cotonou Agreement
Negotiation mandates and directives for the Cotonou Agreement
List of EU negotiators, trade experts, researchers involved in the preparation of the Cotonou negotiations/ EU-ACP EPA negotiations
Impact analysis/assessments of the Cotonou Agreement (2000) (and any communication between the negotiators and trade experts/researchers about these reports)

I would really appreciate it if you could already release documents (electronic format) when they are retrieved instead of waiting until you have collected all the requested documents. Thanks in advance!

Yours faithfully,

Madeleine Lang
In der Au 10,
76646 Bruchsal, Germany

Dear BUTTITTA Lory (INTPA),
I’m trying to find out why the SADC-EPA restricts regional integration processes in the SADC region whilst it is supposed to be an instrument promoting regional integration and whilst the EU presents itself as a promoter of regional integration worldwide. Hence, I mostly want to analyse these documents to find out how the EU talked about the SADC EPA, EPAs in general and possible risks of the EPAs. Since I’m focusing on regional integration and the fragmentation of SADC due to the SADC EPA I’m mostly interested in text passages which touch upon these issues. The EPAs are the trade pillar of the Cotonou Agreement (signed 2000 and negotiated 1998-2000). To negotiate structure, format and principles for the negotiations, the first negotiation round was on an all-ACP Group level (Sep 2002- Sep 2003). In July 2004, the EU started to negotiate with SADC to establish an EPA– SADC was fragmented into four regional economic communities to negotiate the EPAs. Thus, most of the documents I’m interested in are published during the time period 1998-2005. I’m asking for preparatory documents such as the impact analysis and communication between negotiators and trade experts/researchers to find out whether the EU did not anticipate the fragmentation and restriction of regional integration processes in SADC because the generated knowledge by the EU was not adequate enough or because of bad communication between negotiators and researchers etc (ignorance) or because the EU assumed SADC states would act differently (error)....I want to analyse I’m trying to find out why the SADC-EPA restricts regional integration processes in the SADC region whilst it is supposed to be an instrument promoting regional integration and whilst the EU presents itself as a promoter of regional integration worldwide. Hence, I mostly want to analyse these documents to find out how the EU talked about the SADC EPA, EPAs in general and possible risks of the EPAs. Since I’m focusing on regional integration and the fragmentation of SADC due to the SADC EPA I’m mostly interested in text passages which touch upon these issues. The EPAs are the trade pillar of the Cotonou Agreement (signed 2000 and negotiated 1998-2000). To negotiate structure, format and principles for the negotiations, the first negotiation round was on an all-ACP Group level (Sep 2002- Sep 2003). In July 2004, the EU started to negotiate with SADC to establish an EPA– SADC was fragmented into four regional economic communities to negotiate the EPAs. Thus, most of the documents I’m interested in are published during the time period 1998-2005. I’m asking for preparatory documents such as the impact analysis and communication between negotiators and trade experts/researchers to find out whether the EU did not anticipate the fragmentation and restriction of regional integration processes in SADC because the generated knowledge by the EU was not adequate enough or because of bad communication between negotiators and researchers etc (ignorance) or because the EU assumed SADC states would act differently (error). I want to analyse other documents to find out if and if yes, why the EU anticipated this impact but still proceeded to negotiate the EPAs.

impact analysis/assessment -> 1999: “EC (1999), Négociation UE-ACP: Synthèse des études d’impact de la proposition de l’UE de négocier des APER avec les sous-régions ACP, Document de travail des services de la Commission pour le groupe de négociation 3 ‘Coopération économique et commerciale’, 14 juin, Bruxelles, Brussels: European Commission.” ( I need this version if possible in English- otherwise French and German are okay as well- it was used in this paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication... )
Here https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2... it is explained that the EC starts to prepare trade agreements by assessing the likely impact of an agreement. I need this impact assessment for the EU SADC EPA (and EPAs in general). Since it is clarified that the EC prepares these assessments before the negotiation period this would either be before the all-ACP round (2002) or before July 2004 (when the negotiations with SADC started).

Concerning the communication between negotiators- trade experts/researchers I’m interested in finding out what they had to say about these reports and which possible impacts they discussed e.g. since I’m focusing on regional integration- did they discuss about the possible fragmentation of regions that would negatively affect regional integration e.g. in SADC? How did the EU react to that (indifferent, hoping it will not happen, thinking they can react to this issue etc…) Did they not communicate efficiently e.g. were certain recommendations by researchers ignored…Hence, I would be happy to receive any minutes of meetings where the negotiators consulted the trade experts/ or communication via email/ a report on their consultation and discussion (between 2002 and 2005).

Proposals and consultation papers for the SADC-EPA (see preparing and negotiating https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2... most likely between 2002-2005) / proposals and consultation papers for EPAs in general would also be okay (1998-2002) (mentioned in Trade Negotiation Insights by ECDPM and South Centre issues on EPAs)

Negotiation mandates and directives for the SADC EPA published (2002-2004) (a document like this but specifically for the SADC EPA https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/doc... + a list with names and further information on the Commissioner for Trade at Ministerial level, Senior Official of DG Trade at senior official level and the DG Trade Unit, as well as trade experts and researchers responsible for SADC-EC EPA coordination in the first negotiation round 2004-2007 (SADC) all ACP (2002-2003))- see again ‘Negotiating Trade Agreements’
/ and/or minutes/reports of their meetings to prepare SADC EPA negotiations
Is there a document listing in a chronological order all EU meetings that were held to prepare, discuss and negotiate the SADC-EPA (and or EPAs in general)?

Review of EU-SADC EPA or EU-SADC monitoring and evaluation report (mentioned here: https://etendering.ted.europa.eu/cft/cft... - hence it should have been published some time in 2022)

The Commission’s Work Programme/Activity Report (1995-2000 is sufficient- (not the resolutions of the Committee on The Commission’s Work Programme but the final version like this one: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...)

Yours sincerely,

Madeleine Lang