Exploring the Implications of European Integration for The Anglophone Caribbean: From Lomé to EPA. Working Paper Series Vol. 4 No. 17, December 2004

[From the introduction]. The paper specifically discusses the implications of European integration for the Anglophone Caribbean. (5) Why the EU and the Anglophone Caribbean? As the paper demonstrates these two regions are historically entwined through colonial ties and post-colonial trade and aid arrangements. Much has been written about Europe and the Caribbean in the context of colonialism or post-colonialism (6) or EU-Caribbean trade relations, within the broader context of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States.(7) There is also an emerging body of literature which examines the implications of European integration for the Anglophone Caribbean in the post-Lomé era. (8) What this paper sets out to do is add to the discourse on European integration and the implications for the Anglophone Caribbean in general and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) (9) in particular. The paper begins by outlining the historical relationship between the EU and the Anglophone Caribbean through the framework of the Lomé Conventions. It then discusses some of the significant developments in the EU and in CARICOM during the late 1980s and 1990s. The next section analyses some of the challenges in the post-Lomé era, which threaten the traditional relationship between the EU and the ACP in general and the Anglophone Caribbean in particular. Finally the paper draws some broad conclusions and offers suggestions for further research