The European Development Fund and its Operations with Africa
| Date | 01 October 1968 |
| Author | Tom Soper |
| Published date | 01 October 1968 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1968.tb00348.x |
The European Development Fund
and its Operations with Africa
By
TOM
SOPER
Dr.
Soper is Director of Studies, Overseas Development Institute, London.
Size
and
Direction
of
EDF
Activities
A
DEVELOPMENT
FUND
for aid to certain overseas countries was originally
set up in 1958 to channel aid
of
the European Economic Community
(EEe)
- as distinct from the individual bilateral aid programmes
of
the Six - to
those countries associated with the Community under Part IV
of
the Treaty
of
Rome and the annexed Implementing Convention. Article 131 of the
Treaty of Rome states the intention of the Member States of the EEC
(Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg) to bring into
association with them
"the
non-European countries and territories which
have special relations with Belgium, France, Italy, and the Netherlands" and
that
"the
purpose
of
this association shall be to promote the economic and
social development
of
the countries and territories . .
."
The
Treaty of
Rome itself is for an unlimited duration but the Implementing Convention
is limited to a five-year period and it was in this annexure that the Fund was
established. Article I of this Convention states, "A Development Fund for
the overseas countries and territories shall be set up, into which the Member
States shall during a period of five years paythe annual contributions provided
for in Annex A to this Convention". Most, although not all, of the associated
countries were in Africa and they were at the time in a state
of
political
dependency on a member
of
the EECt.
The
tenure of five years given to
the Fund lasted from January rst, 1958 to December 31st, 1962.
Then
in
1963the Yaounde Convention was signed between the EEC and the eighteen
Afro-Malagassy States. It entered into force in June, 1964 and expires on
31st May, 1969. Under Article 16
of
this Convention a second Fund was
established (known formally as the European Development Fund or EDF)
whereby an aggregate amount of $730m. was provided,
of
which $666m.
was to come from the
EDF
and $64m. from the European Investment Bank.
These sums were to enable the EEC to "participate in measures calculated
to promote the economic and social development
of
the Associated States
by supplementing the efforts achieved by those States" (Article 15). This
Fund was in many ways a continuation of the earlier one but it was larger in
size and more varied in its powers and methods of operation.
1French Guinea in West Africa was associated under the
Treaty
of Rome
but
this
association subsequently lapsed. French Somaliland was associated under Part IV
of the Treaty of Rome
but
is not a signatory to the Yaounde Convention. Tunisia,
Morocco, and Algeria all have special trade arrangements with France
but
any aid they
may receive from members
of
the
EEC
comes under bilateral arrangements and they
are not entitled to make use
of
the
EDF.
512
EUROPEAN
DEVELOPMENT
FUND
AND
AFRICA
513
The
resources of the Fund were, as set out in Article 17
of
the Convention,
to be employed:
"in
the field of economic and social investments
-for
basic economic and social schemes
-for
production schemes of general interest
-for
production schemes providing normal financial returns
-for
relevant technicalassistance before,during, and after such investments.
"In
the field of general technical co-operation
-for
surveying the development prospects
of
the economies
of
the
Associated States
-for
staff training and vocational training programmes.
"in
the field
of
aids for diversification and production
-for
measures essentially intended to make marketing possible at
competitive prices on the Community's markets as a whole by
encouraging, in particular, rationalisation
of
cropping and sales methods,
and by aiding producers to make the necessary adaptations.
"in
the field
of
price stabilization
-for
advances for the purpose of helping to alleviate the effects of tem-
porary fluctuations in world prices".
In financialterms the bulk ofits aid is grants ($62om.), but it can give soft
loans and also can assist in softening the repayment terms of loans obtained
from the European Investment Bank. This Bank was originally designed
only for the less developed parts of Europe and it has made loans to Belgium,
Germany, France, Italy, and Luxembourg inside the EEC and to Greece
and Turkey which have a special associationwith the EEC. It has now been
empowered to expand its activities in a limited way to the extent
of
$64J11.
to the Afro-Malagassy associates and a further $6m. to the overseas
dependencies of the member states
of
the EEC.
The
African and Malagassy countries which signed the Yaounde Con-
vention were those which had been associated with the EEC under the
Treaty of Rome; and they were by 1963independent sovereign states. With
the exception of Somalia they were all French-speaking. Fourteen
of
them
were ex-dependencies
of
France, three
of
Belgium and one, Somalia, a
combination
of
the former British Somaliland and the
UN
Trusteeship
territory of Somaliland which had been under Italian administration.
The
names of the countries concerned arc as follows: the Kingdom of Burundi,
Federal Republic of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of Chad,
Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) Congolese Republic (Leopoldville),
Republic of Dahomey, Gabon Republic, Republic
of
the Ivory Coast,
Republic
of
Madagascar, Republic of Mali, Islamic Republic of Mauritania,
Republic of Niger, Republic
of
Rwanda, Republic
of
Senegal, Republic
of
Somalia, Republic of Togo, Republic
of
Upper Volta.
Other African countries are also associated with the EEC but not under the
Yaounde Convention. Nigeria's association is on special terms as set out in
the Treaty of Lagos. This was signed in 1966 and is due for re-negotiation
in May, 1969. This Treaty is essentially a trade treaty and Nigeria does not
receive any financial or technical assistance from the EDF.
The
East
African countries of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda have also signed an
agreement on association covering the period up to May, 1969.
It
is unlikely
that ratification by all the countries concerned will take place before it
D·
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