Negotiating OACPS-EU relations: The decline of trust

This paper explores the negotiations around the creation of the Samoa agreement between the European Union and Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS). Acknowledging the importance of the decentring approach to Africa-EU relations, it explores the decline in trust in the EU from the perspective of the OACPS. It argues that the nature of the relationship during the Cotonou era, the colonial legacy and the nature of the EU as a negotiator all impacted on a decline in trust on the part of the OACPS states and that this impacted the nature of the negotiations. It highlights what’s gone wrong, and why; the extent to which we are witnessing a lack of aligned visions on what development is, how it ought to work etc. It argues that the geopolitical context within which the agreement sits also contributed to African agency in particular. Finally, it will examine the prospects for the future of the agreement given the negotiation challenges outlined above.