It took one sentence in the wee hours of Friday morning for Emmanuel Macron to put more than seven years of work by the European Commission and others in mortal jeopardy.
Asked at a press conference whether it was time to ditch the fledgling, ailing, and still-unsigned Post-Cotonou Agreement between the European Union and the 79-member Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, or OACPS, the French president appeared open to it.
“You are right to underline the difficulty,” Macron said after Devex cited Hungary’s two-year blocking of the agreement and South Africa’s recent decision to quit OACPS as evidence that the text risks being dead on arrival. “I share your point. I think that certain frameworks are a bit worn out today and so we must go beyond.”
About the author
Vince Chadwickvchadw
Vince Chadwick is a contributing reporter at Devex. A law graduate from Melbourne, Australia, he was social affairs reporter for The Age newspaper, before covering breaking news, the arts, and public policy across Europe, including as a reporter and editor at POLITICO Europe. He was long-listed for International Journalist of the Year at the 2023 One World Media Awards.
