ABSTRACT
Moreover, since the 1980s, it is arguable that there has been an ideological shift within the EC which, combined with the radical geopolitical changes resulting from the ending of the Cold War, have meant that historical commitments between the EC and the ACP are under threat. There is now a clear contradiction between the desire to meet historical obligations to the ACP and a public commitment to economic liberalism a la WTO. Furthermore, the interests of the member states have changed with each subsequent enlargement, and this means that the concerns of the ACP are not at the top of the external relations agenda, while the arguments for historical obligation which pertained to only a small number Member States have weakened. Consequently, when Lome IV ended in February 2000, a radically new WTO compatible trade agenda was proposed for the Cotonou Agreement, including the ending of preferential trade access for all but the poorest ACP states. This excludes all Caribbean states (except for Haiti) which are middle income countries but, nevertheless, remain commodity dependent. The Sugar Protocol will cease to offer any comparative advantage to the ACP states after 2009, although it is clear, when looking at its operation throughout the period under review, that the value of the Protocol has been gradually eroded.
