ABSTRACT
European Union development cooperation is faced with a central dilemma. The Lome Convention, the European Union's oldest and most established development policy, is scheduled to expire in February 2000 after a long and much commented upon period of decline. The European Union dilemma over the Lome Convention can be understood as a dilemma between the modernist and post-modernist discourses on development. The proposals in the Green Paper examine breaking up the unified Lome structure into regional, subregional or bilateral agreements in response. The Green Paper sees the end of the twentieth century as a particularly important barrier or milestone which coincides with the expiration of Lome IV in the Year 2000. The assertion in the Green Paper that the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries are becoming increasingly diverse seems to lead to the conclusion that they should be treated differently and separately.
