This follows the European parliamentarians’ decision not to allow the Zimbabwean delegation into the talks citing traveling sanction imposed on the latter by the EU.
The ACP-EU JPA starts today and will end on Thursday in Brussels, Belgium.
In a statement today, the South African parliamentary delegation said there was a need for joint decision-making and if the European parliamentarians felt uncomfortable to receive all members of the JPA in the parliamentary precincts, it was incumbent on them as hosts to provide an alternative venue.
‘There is thus a fundamental principle at stake and the South African delegation is strongly opposed to attempts by the European parliamentarians to unilaterally exclude certain members of the Zimbabwean delegation,’ the delegation said.
The JPA is also a multilateral body implying that the host of any of its meetings has to create conditions for participation by all members of the JPA, whatever the state is of bilateral relations between any particular members of the JPA, it argued.
The ACP-EU JPA has a critically important role to play in providing for parliamentary oversight of the Cotonou agreement that was signed in Benin two years ago.
The agreement provides the framework for the EU's co-operation with the ACP until 2020. It covers all areas of co-operation, including political dialogue, development assistance and trade and defines the procedures and institutions that govern the co-operation.
The 5th session is the first occasion for Parliamentarians to deliberate on the negotiations for the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) provided for by the Cotonou agreement.
‘We therefore call on the European parliamentarians to create conditions that will allow this important work of the JPA to proceed,’ South African parliamentarians said. -BuaNews
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