Everything but Arms
The impact of the EU’s ‘everything but arms’ proposal: a report to Oxfam
Reducing poverty through the reduction of EU protectionism
Authors:
C. Stevens; J. Kennan
Publisher:
Oxfam, 2001
This article outlines Oxfam's support for the European Commission’s proposal to improve acccess to the EU market for all products, except armaments, exported from the world’s 48 poorest countries as a small but welcome step towards fairer trade in the world.
Conclusions of study:
- The so-called ‘Everything But Arms’ (EBA) proposal will bring economic benefits to the world’s poorest countries and people
- It also represents an important political gesture, indicating the EU’s commitment to promote a more equitable distribution of the benefits of international trade
- The EBA proposal has attracted extremely strong resistance from some EU Member States, European farmers, and parts of the multinational sugar industry. Many of these arguments are - described in this report as being - ill-informed, however, and appear to be based on overstated and implausible claims about the likely impact of the EBA
- The costs to the EU of implementing the EBA are very small, in comparison to the positive benefits it will bring for the least-developed countries
- Some developing countries that already benefit from preferential access to the EU market have legitimate concerns about the impact of the EBA on their trade with the EU. But these concerns can, and should, be addressed through positive measures, rather than an EU retreat from the EBA proposal.
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