ACP–EU Normative Concessions from Stabex to Private Sector Development: Why the European Union's Moralised Pursuit of a ‘Deep’ Trade Agenda is Nothing ‘New’ in ACP–EU Relations

Abstract

Recently much attention has been paid to the European Union's alleged ‘new trade politics’ expressed in terms of the novel centrality of moralised ‘development’ concessions in the Commission's pursuit of ‘deep’, ‘behind-the-border’ trade reform in developing countries. However, when these apparent novelties are considered in the historical perspective of EU relations with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states, we can see that the fusion of ethics to economics within ‘deep’ trade agendas is nothing new in EU trade policy. Through the lens of contemporary EU assistance to ACP private sector development (PSD) under the ACP–EU Cotonou Partnership Agreement (2000–), the article illustrates that moralised ‘development’ concessions are indeed being utilised in the EU's vigorous promotion of far-reaching liberal reform in developing states. Nevertheless, when current PSD normative concessions are considered in the historical context of the ACP–EU Lomé Conventions’ (1975–2000) Stabex programme and its moralisation of ACP structural adjustment, we can see that European moralised discourses and concessions have long been tied to the pursuit of ‘deep’ market-opening in the developing world.

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