In the Commission's view, the special relationship between the EU and the OCTs should move away from a classic development cooperation approach to a reciprocal partnership to support the OCTs’ sustainable development and promote the EU’s values and standards in the wider world. Taking into account the feedback received in response to the public consultation, particular from the OCTs and the four Member States to which they are linked (Denmark, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom), the Commission believes that the focus should be on strengthening the OCTs’ competitiveness and resilience, as well as cooperation with other partners, all while taking due account of the OCTs’ diversity.
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Many contributions stressed that the solidarity between the EU and the OCTs should be based on the fact that all inhabitants of the OCTs are in principle8 EU citizens, as nationals of the related Member States, and on the close links resulting from common history and constitutional traditions. They argue that the new association should focus on the potential of the OCTs, while addressing their vulnerability, rather than the fight against poverty. According to some contributions, this also means that the OCTs should not be ‘worse off’ in the future in terms of Community financial assistance, and that the OCTs’ access to funding in general should be facilitated.
Accordingly to Article 17 of the EC Treaty, every person holding the nationality of a Member State shall be a citizen of the Union. As a matter of fact, all nationals of Greenland, and the French and the Dutch OCTs also have the nationality of the related Member States automatically and are therefore EU citizens. As from 21 May 2002, the citizens of all the British OCTs are also British citizens, but they can renounce it in favour of remaining British overseas territories citizens only.
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In keeping with the purpose of the association of the OCTs with the Community under Article 182 of the EC Treaty, the logic of the 2001 Overseas Association Decision now needs to be replaced with a more contemporary approach, in particular taking due account of the consensus in the OCTs and the Member States to which they are linked on the idea that the solidarity between the EU and the OCTs should be based on their unique relationship and their belonging to the same ‘European family’.
In this respect, the Commission takes the view that the overall rationale of the association should be to ensure the OCTs’ sustainable development, as well as to help promote the EU’s values and standards in the wider world. On the one hand, the necessary solidarity from the EU towards the OCTs’ inhabitants —in principle European citizens as nationals of the related Member States — implies that the EU should promote the OCTs’ sustainable development, in its economic, social and environmental dimensions. On the other hand, this special relationship as well as the OCTs’ location all over the globe can also make their association with the EU into a privileged channel to promote the EU’s values and standards on as wide a geographical basis as possible. The Commission thus believes that the future relationship should be more reciprocal, based on mutual interests.
Page 9 CONCLUSION
The Commission is in favour of a significant change in the approach to the association of the OCTs with the EU. Such a change should reflect the fact that the relationship between them is one of a kind, in the sense that the OCTs and the EU are intricately linked even though the OCTs do not form part of the EU as such. This should give rise to a partnership based on mutual interests, reciprocity, rights and obligations. In this context, the EU’s solidarity towards the OCTs should ensure their sustainable development by strengthening their competitiveness and reducing their vulnerability, while the OCTs should contribute to the promotion of European values.
To help build a new EU strategy towards the OCTs, the Commission intends to examine in particular the following issues more in detail before making a proposal for a new Overseas Association Decision:
• Main challenges and opportunities of each OCT in its regional environment, as well as each OCT’s comparative assets, strategic potential and present competitiveness in light of the development of an enabling environment for business cooperation and capacity building;
• Degree of convergence between the local legislation in each OCT and the Community acquis in relevant policy areas;
• Possible ways of improving OCTs’ accessibility, including through information and communication technologies (ICTs);
• Impact and prospects of regional integration and globalisation for the OCTs;
• Promotion of closer cooperation on environment, inter alia climate change and biodiversity, and DRR in the OCTs;
• Actual need for development aid;
• Possible OCT-specific rules of origin;
• Possible financing mechanisms.
The aim is to pursue and intensify the reflection in the course of 2010 and 2011, in partnership with the OCTs and the related Member States. This should pave the way for working out concrete legislative proposals in time before the end of 2013, to amend the current association..
This is from page 3 of my contribution to the EU's Maritime paper, I could see what was coming even then, even as far away as the Falkland Isles. May God forgive them because I never will. Anne
Would there be a “motorway in the sea” from the Continent of Europe to the Falklands Islands? When Mr Brady MP asked this question (18.89.2006) “What is on the applicability of EU policy and legislation to the territorial waters of the overseas territories on member states” Mr McCartney MP answered, “ The EC Treaty, other than Part IV on the Association of overseas Countries and territories, does not apply to the Overseas territories of the United Kingdom, except to Gibraltar to which it applies by virtue of Article 299 (4) EC Treaty. As the legal base for any legislation arising out of the Maritime Green Paper would be likely to be under Article 175 (1), an environmental legal base, it would not apply to the majority of the United Kingdom’s overseas Territories. However, the Government and the Governments of the other Overseas Territories would want to consider whether it would be appropriate and feasible to apply similar measures based on EC Legislation through the Territories domestic legislation”. I rather suspect that if the EU Constitution had gone through, or a Mini EU Treaty goes through, circumstances would change to the advantage of the EU and disadvantage of Nation States.
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