Earlier this year, in March, we reported on this website about questions asked by MEPs David Martin (PSE) and Corien Wortmann-Kool (EPP-DE) regarding the seizure of generic medicines, produced in India and on their way to Brazil and Nigeria, in the Netherlands. Seizing or even delaying the transhipment of medicines like these are harmful for people in developing countries, as their access to essential generic – and thus cheaper – medicines is severely hampered. This is an update on the current situation regarding the seizing of medicines in Europe. Problem solved, as the Commission said? Probably not.

Recently, on May 25^th 2009, the Council decided to prolong the period of restructuring of the cotton sector from four to eight years. A decision that the Parliament agreed with in a report by the parliamentary committee on Agriculture earlier this year in April. Restructuring the cotton sector primarily means that the aid that the EU has been given to farmers does not only depend on the amount of hectares anymore. This so-called uncoupling of sector aid can be very positive for cotton producers in developing countries since it eliminates a mechanism that distorts the cotton market. But through this amendment, that prolongs the restructuring process, the EU delays the partial uncoupling of sector aid, which means negative consequences of the cotton policy for developing countries will not reduce.

The Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) that the EU is trying to conclude with the seven regions that together cover the ACP (African Caribbean and Pacific) group of countries, continue to be newsworthy. When the EPA negotiation process started in 2002, one would not have imagined that by 2009 only one full EPA had been signed. However, this is actually the case. The Caribbean states, together also known as Cariforum-group, have signed a full EPA In October 2008 and the process of implementation has started. Only six more to go. The Commission has mentioned June 2009 as the new deadline for all interim agreements signed so far to be transposed into full, regional EPAs, but recent developments indicate that this date is too optimistic.