Schmitt: Appropriate water management as pledge of peace

One MP from each of the seventy-eight African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP) and the same number of members of the European Parliament, come together twice a year, for a week, to discuss emerging common problems. The Joint Parliamentary Assembly meets twice a year alternatively in an ACP country and the EU member state actually holding the EU Presidency. Accordingly, Hungary  hosts the discussions on 16–18 May 2011.

On 16 May, at the opening ceremony in Budapest, President of Hungary Pál Schmitt highlighted the problem of shrinking water supplies, since in his view, this problem might endanger the stability of entire regions. “This is the reason why the Hungarian Presidency adopted the initiative, which aims at the protection and sustainable exploitation of water supplies as an important priority,” the President said.

The Presidency aims to make the support of sustainable water management a horizontal element of the European Union’s development policy in the future, and to ensure that every development and cooperation programme takes it into consideration, regardless of the affected sectoral policy, Pál Schmitt explained. The Hungarian Presidency has launched the debates over the problem in the Council, and will publish the results after the meeting of development ministers, which is to be held on 23 May.

The work of the EU–ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly

Relations between the EU and ACP countries date back to the initial period of European integration, while their present cooperation is determined by the Cotonou Partnership Agreement signed for twenty years, in 2000. This agreement established the institutions of the cooperation, including the Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

The 26-member board of the council, is composed of 13 EU and 13 ACP representatives. The two co-presidents of the assembly are also members of the board: Belgian liberal MEP Louis Michel representing the EP and David Matongo from Zambia representing the ACP countries.

The EU-ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly has three permanent committees: the Committee on Economic Development, Finance and Trade, the Committee on Political Affairs; and finally the Committee on Social Affairs and the Environment. An additional permanent but not official institution is the Women’s Forum, which takes place before the committee meetings.

The Council’s Budapest meeting  adopts an urgent resolution on the situation in Ivory Coast and the impact of North African events on ACP countries, Europe and the world. Additionally, the Council  adopts a report on the challenges of democratic transformation, water contamination and the budgetary aids to be provided to third countries.