7 RESULTADOS
7.4 CLASIFICACIÓN DE SUBCUENCAS según el factor de forma (Kc) y el índice
The resolution on cultural policy came two months before the more general resolution on the renewal of the Convention, the outcome of work by the Committee on Development191
over a long period. Combating hunger and poverty was considered to be the fundamental objective of the new Convention, to be pursued through the achievement of a greater degree of autonomy by the ACP countries; to meet this objective local human and material resources would have to be mobilised. Operationally, food self-sufficiency, whether national or regional, was to be pursued through the integrated development of rural areas, and within them of food crops. Food aid, which was still necessary, should not be used to dispose of Community agricultural surpluses, which could alter eating habits in
188 EP resolution of 16 December 1981 on the outcome of the proceedings... Op. cit.
189 EP - Committee on Development - Report on cultural cooperation between the ACP States and the EEC. Doc. 1-453/83. Rap: A.
Narducci.
190 EP resolution of 8 January 1983 on cultural cooperation between the ACP States and the EEC, OJ C 242, 12.9.1983, p. 118.
191 EP resolution of 16 September 1983 on the context of the future ACP-EEC Convention to follow Lomé II, OJ C 277, 17.10.1983, p.
146. This followed the Committee on Development’s motion for a resolution with the same title. Rap: Irmer. Doc. 605/83. There is no explanatory statement with this, though the rapporteur delivered one to the Chamber in the 15 September 1983 sitting. EP Verbatim report of proceedings, 12 to 16 September 1983 - 15 September sitting, OJ, Annex 1-303, p. 247. To draft the motion, the committee had set up a special working group, the minutes of which do not seem to have been kept in the European Parliament’s archives, if indeed they were ever written. The group started work in November 1982 and finished in June of the following year.
the destination countries, but should consist of products more suited to local needs and eating habits.
The second priority, trade, was closely linked to greater autonomy for the ACP countries, and its importance was underlined by the rapporteur in his presentation of the resolution to the chamber:
We all know that the wealth of the industrialised countries in the Northern hemisphere cannot be maintained or increased in the long term, if the South continues to languish in poverty and hardship. If we do not manage to establish a permanent flow of trade between North and South, in both directions, and to make these countries strong economic partners, if we leave them to subside into poverty, we run the serious risk of being dragged down ourselves and of no longer being able to maintain our standard of living192
The achievement of this priority was analysed in one of the longest and most detailed chapters of the resolution, Trade and Markets, the basic principle of which was to guarantee to take the largest possible share of finished products, or products at an advanced stage of processing, from the ACP countries out of all their exports. In view of this, the resolution called for free access to the Community for ACP products.
The importance given to finished products did not sideline the issue of raw materials, for which the level of prices was vital. To defend it, the Community had to do its utmost at all levels in the conclusion of new agreements on raw materials. The demand for free access to the European market, particularly as regards agricultural products, for which Stabex was to be strengthened and reformed, was reiterated specifically with the request that it would also be opened to ACP products likely to compete with Community products. The resolution paid particular attention to the problems of the ‘Sugar Protocol’.
A third priority was the inclusion in the new Convention of the question of human rights, though the resolution did not dwell on this. In his speech to the chamber, Irmer linked defending human rights to the fight against hunger, poverty and disease.
In addition to these three priorities, the resolution tackled other problems: energy, which was to be dealt with specifically in the Convention; training and research in science and technology, which were essential to development; and maritime transport, where the Convention was to provide for the elimination of questionable practices by shipping lines that did not meet international regulations on safety and working conditions at sea. A certain amount of emphasis was placed on the issue of the environment. The Convention was to provide for specific measures on the environment and their inclusion in development projects.
As far as institutions were concerned, the resolution called for the two parliamentary bodies, the Consultative Assembly and the Joint Committee, to be united and for the new body to have budgetary autonomy.
Finally, as regards the crucial point of financial and technical cooperation, it asked that aid should no longer be for projects, but for programmes that related to strategies, and
that a policy dialogue between the beneficiary countries and the Community should be set up to produce a more detailed analysis of the situation in the destination country. An increase in appropriations, greater use of private capital, and the inclusion of the European Development Fund in the Community’s general budget were also demanded.
Group of dignitaries at a reception hosted by the two Co-Presidents of the Consultative Assembly. They include Simone Veil (first row, second from left), Prince (now Grand Duke) Henri (first row, centre) and Akere Muna (first row, second from right).