ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the negotiation process of the Economic Partnership Agreements between the EU and West Africa, including key issues and important turning points. It traces the development of negotiating positions on key contentious issues of the EPA process over two negotiating periods: 2002–2007 and 2008–2012. The first negotiating period from 2002 up to the originally envisaged negotiating deadline of December 2007 ended with the emergence of impasse. The second period, 2008–2012, was characterized by the persistence of the deadlock situation. This chapter thus outlines what this book seeks to explain: the reluctance of both sides to make concessions in EPA negotiations for prolonged periods of time, which led to repeated impasse situations. It also briefly summarizes how the negotiations were concluded in the last negotiating phase (2013–2014), and why the agreement nonetheless has not entered into force more than five years later, which suggests the failure of the EPA process. Finally, it discusses the impasse as a “puzzling” outcome.
