Commission reviews its cooperation strategy with Argentina

FR - DE - ES - PT

The European Commission has renewed the strategy for its cooperation with the Republic of Argentina to take into account the new social problems of the country. The revised Country Strategy Paper (CSP), valid until 2006, sets the priorities for the Commission and for Argentina for the next 2 years: social sector (€30 million) and trade and regional integration (€10 million).

Argentina is convalescent after a severe political and economic crisis and its social situation is still worrying, with around 50% of the population below the poverty threshold. The new government of President Kirchner has stabilised the economy and a recovery has started. However, difficult reforms are still necessary to ensure sustainable growth, needed to improve social conditions. Moreover, Argentina should benefit from deeper Mercosur integration and from the conclusion of ongoing negotiations on an EU-Mercosur Association Agreement.

Over the crisis period and despite the difficulties, several cooperation activities continued in different sectors: support to SMEs, NGOs, universities and research centres. However, the bilateral cooperation programme needed to be adapted to the new realities of the country and to the priorities of the new government. The Commission's response to the crisis went beyond the cooperation programme. It included emergency measures, short-term social actions (APAC project to support community food production and distribution), and trade-related measures, notably in agriculture and the GSP system, to ease the situation.

Following consultations with the new Argentine authorities, and as a result of the new social scenario, the Commission's initial programming (2/3 economic cooperation and 1/3 social areas) has been reviewed to give the strongest emphasis to the social areas, notably health, education, and justice. The Commission is planning to devote ¾ of the remaining funds (€30 million) to these areas in order to fight poverty and social exclusion.

Commission funds would mainly go to the regions and areas most affected by the crisis: in health, these are primary care, mother-children health, neo-natal services, as well as the process of health services decentralization; in education, the intention is to prioritise the upgrading of the poorest schools and training for teenagers, who are dropping out of school in alarming proportions.

A project is also envisaged to support President Kirchner in another top priority of his government: Human Rights protection. This could target access to justice information for citizens and/or a contribution to the future network of human rights observatories.

At the same time, the common EU and Argentina priority for Mercosur integration, as well as the ongoing EU-Mercosur negotiations and other international agreements, require technical assistance, which will absorb ¼ of the remaining funds (nearly €10 million) for TRTA (Trade-Related Technical Assistance) and institutional support to assist the government and other involved actors in these negotiations and their future implementation.

Background

The crisis which followed the events of December 2001 has profoundly reshaped the political, economic and social landscape of the country. Socially, it has pushed around half of the population into poverty and a quarter below subsistence levels. The health and education systems have been particularly affected.

Since May 2003, President Kirchner's new government has embarked upon several reforms aimed at regaining confidence in key executive, legislative and judicial institutions, re-focused its strategy in foreign policy (in which the partnership with Brazil and Mercosur integration are now top priorities) and stabilized the national economy.

A three-year stand-by agreement was signed with the IMF and GDP grew by 8.7% during the year 2003. External trade had benefited from the significant depreciation of the currency and acted as an engine to increase production in agriculture, but several industrial sectors, tourism and construction also recovered. However, the current economic rebound will only be made sustainable if difficult reforms in areas such as private debt, utilities and the banking sector are implemented, while continuing to address the difficult social situation.

The EU-Argentina cooperation programme adopted on 25 May addresses both aspects of this challenge.

Country Strategy Papers were introduced in 2001 as part of a wider programme of Commission reforms in the field of external assistance. Their purpose is to improve the coherence of the policy towards third countries and particularly, to ensure a better match between political priorities and cooperation activities.


More information on the EU-Argentina relations at:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/argentina/intro/index.htm

| Top |