A missed opportunity for regionalism: the disparate behaviour of African countries in the EPA-negotiations with the EU

Regional organisations in Africa have not managed to form coherent coalitions while negotiating about Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union (EU). Either the membership of EPA groups is not congruent with the membership of existing regional organisations, or crucial member states refuse to sign the EPAs and put their regions’ unity at risk. We argue that these problems are due to the differentiated trade rules of the EU, which privilege some trade partners and some commodity exports over others. Large African countries, which enjoy privileged access to the European market, do not have incentives to implement the unpopular EPAs, which are based on reciprocal trade liberalisation. As a result, they obstruct the negotiation process or refuse to implement the EPAs. This mechanism is illustrated at the examples of the East African Community (EAC), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).