12.10.2012

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 309/1

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MINUTES OF THE SITTING OF MONDAY, 28 MAY 2012

2012/C 309/01

Contents

Formal inaugural sitting

Sitting of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly

Composition of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly

Accreditation of non-parliamentary representatives

1.	Adoption of agenda (AP101.145)

2.	Approval of the minutes of the last two sittings of the 22nd session of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly (OJ C 145, 23 May 2012)

3.	Co-Presidents' announcements including decisions taken at the Bureau meeting of 27 May 2012

4.	Statement by Andris Piebalgs, Member of the Commission with responsibility for development

5.	Debate with Andris Piebalgs, Member of the Commission with responsibility for development – catch-the-eye

6.	Question Time to the Commission

7.	Action taken by the Commission on the resolutions adopted at the 22nd session of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly

8.	Price volatility, the functioning of global markets for agricultural products and their impact on food security in ACP countries Committee on Economic Development, Finance and Trade Co-rapporteurs: Cornelius T. Mwalwanda (Malawi) and David Martin

MINUTES OF THE SITTING OF MONDAY, 28 MAY 2012

(The sitting opened at 11.00 a.m.)

Formal inaugural sitting

The following addressed the Assembly:

Peter Sørensen, Mayor of Horsens, Mogens Lykketoft, President of the National Assembly of Denmark, Musikari Kombo, Co-President of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, Louis Michel, Co-President of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Prime Minister of Denmark.

(The sitting adjourned at 12.30 p.m. and resumed at 3.05 p.m.)

IN THE CHAIR: Louis MICHEL

Co-President

Sitting of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly

The Co-President welcomed all the participants.

Composition of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly

The Co-President announced that the list of members of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly, as forwarded by the authorities of the ACP States and the European Parliament, would be annexed to the minutes.

Accreditation of non-parliamentary representatives

The Co-President announced that three requests for accreditation of non-parliamentary representatives had been received. In accordance with article 17(1) of the Cotonou Agreement and Article 1 (2) of the Rules of Procedure of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly, due to exceptional cases of force majeure, H.E. Mr Peceli V. Vocea, Ambassador of Fiji, and Hon. Mamy Rakotoarivelo, Presidente of the Transitional Congress (Madagascar), were accredited.

1.   Adoption of agenda (AP101.145)

The agenda was adopted as shown in these minutes.

2.   Approval of the minutes of the last two sittings of the 22nd session of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly (OJ C 145, 23 May 2012)

The minutes were approved.

3.   Co-Presidents' announcements including decisions taken at the Bureau meeting of 27 May 2012

The Co-President reported on the results of the Bureau meeting of 27 May 2012.

The following decisions were taken:

a)

The standing committees would draft the following reports:   Committee on Political Affairs — The threats posed again by the military coups on democracy and political stability in the ACP countries and the role of the international community   Committee on Economic Development, Finance and Trade — Evaluation of Economic Partnership Agreements, EPAs (title to be finalised by the Committee)   Committee on Social Affairs and the Environment — Human resources for health in ACP countries

b)	The resolution on Sudan and South Sudan would be replaced by a declaration of the Co-Presidents.

c)	A debate without resolution would be held on the situation on Guinea Bissau.

d)	The 8th regional meeting would be held in Samoa from 18 to20 July 2012.

e)	Whenever possible, all regional meetings would be held in the respective national parliament. The number of themes for discussion would be limited in order to facilitate deeper debates and give possibilities for all Members to intervene.

f)	A fact-finding mission would be sent to Fiji right after the regional meeting, on dates to be fixed between 22 and 25 July 2012.

g)	If a long-term election observation mission is deployed by the African Union a JPA election observation mission would be sent to Angola. Election observation missions could be sent to the Republic of the Congo and Timor-Leste provided that invitations would be received.

h)	A declaration on the reform of the European Union fisheries policy and its impact on ACP countries was to be submitted to the Assembly by the Committee on Social Affairs and the Environment in order to be adopted by acclamation.

The Co-President paid tribute to the former Mayor of Horsens, Jan Trøjborg, who passed away on 6 May 2012.

The Co-President informed the Assembly that the Women’s Forum had met on 26 May 2012. It had been co-chaired by Rajeshree Kumaree Nita Deerpalsing (Mauritius) and Zita Gurmai and had discussed ‘The role of women in rural development and their access to health services in rural areas’.

The Country and Regional Strategy Papers, as well as the National Indicative Programmes, concerning the period 2008-2013 of the 10th EDF had been transmitted to the respective ACP Heads of Delegation with a view to their consideration by ACP parliaments.

The Co-President announced that the deadlines were as follows:

—	concerning amendments to motions for compromise resolutions and other urgent motions for resolutions to be put to the vote: Tuesday, 29 May 2012 at noon.

—	concerning questions related to voting methods: Wednesday, 30 May 2012 at 10.00 a.m. in writing.

4.   Statement by Andris Piebalgs, Member of the Commission with responsibility for development

The Commissioner made a statement on sustainable development, energy and the Rio+20 Summit, in which he highlighted, among other, that sustainability and sound resource management are at the centre of the EU development policy. These elements are at the core of the implementation of the EU Agenda for Change and represent the EU ambitions for the Rio+20 Summit and the Joint ACP-EU Council of Ministers in Vanuatu. Climate change is causing an additional pressing problem: resource scarcity. The Commission proposed to focus on the green economy that will provide the pillars of life in the future, i.e. water, energy, land and ecosystems including forests, the marine environment and resource efficiency. Poverty eradication, food security, disaster resilience and human health and livelihoods depend upon them.

5.   Debate with Andris Piebalgs, Member of the Commission with responsibility for development – catch-the-eye

Speakers: Olle Schmidt, Fiona Hall, Assarid Imbarcaouane (Mali), Mariya Nedelcheva, Rajeshree Kumaree Nita Deerpalsing (Mauritius), Patrice Tirolien, Piet Van der Walt (Namibia), Rabindre T. Parmessar (Suriname), Horst Schnellhardt, Adjedoue Weidou (Chad), Norbert Neuser, Christophe Apala Pen'Apala Lutundula (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Simon Dieuseul Desras (Haiti), Komi Selom Klassou (Togo), Soubaneh Attaye Ali (Djibouti), Ibrahim Bundu (Sierra Leone), Edwin Banda (Malawi) and Moses Kollie (Liberia).

The Commissioner covered a varied number of topics, including: development funding; difference between EU Member States' commitments to the funding required for achieving the MDGs; energy access and efficiency; al-Qaeda in the Sahel region; Common Agricultural Policy reform and development coherence; EU ‧differentiation‧ in the new Development and Cooperation Instrument (DCI) and future support to Middle Income Countries (MICs); vulnerability and remoteness as possible criteria for ‧differentiation‧; EPA negotiations and availability of time ahead to complete them; EDF guidelines; food supplies and bio-fuel; improvement of the situation in Haiti; research and development; EU support to integrate the current informal trade sector in the ACP national economies, solar energy and deforestation; electricity access in rural areas.

The Commissioner answered the questions raised by Members.

6.   Question Time to the Commission

Altogether 16 questions were put to the Commission.

The Commission had previously responded to the questions in writing. The Commissioner gave oral replies to the supplementary questions by the following authors:

Question No 3 by André Pool (Seychelles) on the European Commission’s Development Policy.

Question No 4 by Rajeshree Kumaree Nita Deerpalsing (Mauritius) on the European Commission Communication on Agenda for Change.

Question No 17 by Horst Schnellhardt on the achievement of Millennium Development Goal on Access to water.

Question No 12 by Michael Gahler on the internal political situation in Fiji.

Question No 13 by Olle Schmidt on political prisoners.

Question No 7 by Enrique Guerrero Salom on the drought in the Horn of Africa.

Question No 5 by Fiona Hall on Rio+20.

Question No 9 by Catherine Bearder on the illegal ivory trade and CITES.

Question No 10 by Michael Cashman (replaced by Derek Vaughan) on EU legislation on conflict minerals.

Question No 11 by Niccoló Rinaldi (replaced by Catherine Bearder) on imports of long-tailed macaque monkeys from Mauritius.

The authors of questions No 1, 2, 6 and 8 had no supplementary questions.

The authors of questions No 14, 15 and 16 were not present.

7.   Action taken by the Commission on the resolutions adopted at the 22nd session of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly

The Commissioner referred to the document concerning the follow-up by the Commission to the resolutions adopted by the Joint Parliamentary Assembly in Lomé (Togo).

8.   Price volatility, the functioning of global markets for agricultural products and their impact on food security in ACP countries

Committee on Economic Development, Finance and Trade

Co-rapporteurs: Cornelius T. Mwalwanda (Malawi) and David Martin

Speakers: Andris Piebalgs (European Commission), Frank Engel, Bobbo Hamatoukour (Cameroon), Françoise Castex, Tesfaye Daba Wakjira (Ethiopia), Nathalie Griesbeck, Emmanuel Kwasi Bandua (Ghana), Mariya Nedelcheva, Assarid Imbarcaouane (Mali), Horst Schnellhardt, Sabado Malendza (Mozambique) and Ibrahim Bundu (Sierra Leone).

Cornelius T. Mwalwanda (Malawi) (replacing Eunice Kazembé as JPA Member for Malawi) and David Martin presented the report. Cornelius T. Mwalwanda (Malawi) stressed that price volatility is one of the major threats to the agriculture sector in ACP countries. The number of people affected by food scarcity will grow due to population growth and increased urbanisation. David Martin highlighted that whilst in Western Europe and America food is now cheaper than ever, African citizens must spend an increasing percentage of available income in food.

Cornelius T. Mwalwanda (Malawi) and David Martin wound up the debate.

(The sitting closed at 6.15 p.m.)

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