Overwegingen bij COM(2023)559 - Ondertekening van de Economische partnerschapsovereenkomst tussen Kenia, lid van de Oost-Afrikaanse Gemeenschap, enerzijds, en de EU, anderzijds

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dossier COM(2023)559 - Ondertekening van de Economische partnerschapsovereenkomst tussen Kenia, lid van de Oost-Afrikaanse Gemeenschap, enerzijds, ...
document COM(2023)559 EN
datum 12 december 2023
 
(1)On 12 June 2002 the Council authorised the Commission to open negotiations for Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States.

(2)The negotiations between the European Union (EU) and the East African Community (‘EAC’) Partner States (Republic of Burundi, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Rwanda, the United Republic of Tanzania, and the Republic of Uganda) for an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) were concluded on 14 October 2014 and the EAC EPA was initialled on 16 October 2014.

(3)Kenya ratified and signed the EU-EAC EPA in September 2016. For the regional EPA to enter into force, all EAC members need to sign and ratify the agreement. To this date, signatures and ratification of three EAC members are still missing, preventing the regional agreement from entering into force.

(4)On 19 December 2019, the Council updated 2002 Commission’s negotiating directives by including the conclusion of a Trade and Sustainable Development chapter in EPAs.

(5)On 27 February 2021 the EAC Summit allowed individual EAC countries to proceed with the bilateral implementation of the EAC EPA under the principle of ‘variable geometry’. On 4 May 2021 Kenya notified the Commission requesting to move forward in this sense.

(6)On 17 February 2022, Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, on behalf of the EU, and Ambassador Raychelld Omamo, on behalf of Kenya, signed a Joint Statement at the margins of the EU-African Union Summit agreeing to advance negotiations on the EU-Kenya EPA (‘the Agreement’), which will remain open for other EAC Partners States.

(7)On 24 May 2023, the negotiations for the Agreement between the European Union and Kenya were successfully concluded.

(8)Therefore, the Agreement should be signed on behalf of the Union, subject to its conclusion at a later date.