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Falklands ponders about new EU and OCT relationship

Cllr Summers: "We feel pretty much like poor cousins in the EU"

THE European Union Commission (EU) has launched a public consultation (Green Paper) on the future of the European Union and Overseas Countries and Territories' (OCT) relationship.

The consultation runs from July 1 to October 17 and poses a number of questions relevant to the Falklands. Falkland Islands Councillor Mike Summers said this week that issues within the paper are "really important" to the Falklands who are not a member of the EU, but are affiliated through the Overseas Countries and Territories group of the European Union. The relationship with the EU deals largely with trade issues and gives duty-free and quota-free access to the EU for exports such as wool, fish and meat, Cllr Summers explained. He added that the OTCs had been saying to the commission for several years now that the relationship they have does not deliver very much and benefits received from trade arrangements in the past had been eroded by trade quotas introduced around the world. "We feel pretty much like poor cousins in the EU and they have agreed that we should have this far reaching discussion about the relationship between OTs and the EU." Whether the Falklands should become closer to the EU with a closer overall and political affiliation with the EU, stay as they are or move further away, are the main issues to be addressed, Cllr Summers said. "We feel the French and Dutch will want a closer relationship for sure with the EU; the British Territories might be more ambivalent, we will have to see." Cllr Summers is to write a paper for consideration to be put to the British Government about "at least keeping the door open" from the Falklands' perspective to a closer relationship with the Union. "In these days of globalization and regionalization, we run the danger in our position here, of becoming more and more isolated and it needs serious thought," he said. The Green Paper produced by the commission is a discussion piece for the OCT and their member states to be thinking about issues: "How we relate ourselves to the Union and what sort of benefits or costs there would be for us, will always be one of the concerns." Cllr Summers said there was the potential for an improved relationship to be helpful to wool imports directly to China because, as the Falklands were not regarded as part of the EU they were not included in any trade agreements that the UK had with China. He said a question to be considered was whether the Islands would be better off if it were closer to the EU and an interesting example to look at would be Gibraltar's membership of the EU and what effect it had had on their economy. Penguin News