Economic partnership agreements between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of countries :

For a long time, the cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries (ACP) has been considered a “progressive” model of partnership. However, the Cotonou Agreement (2000) marked a deep change in the relationship between them, since it imposed the implementation of a free-trade-based commercial framework, requiring relationships to be based on a new form of governance. Many ACP countries dispute the use of the concept of governance by the EU, considering it an instrument of power aiming to establish a new center (EU)–periphery (ACP) dependence in the context of globalization. To analyze this process, this paper reviews the stakes involved in negotiations, the action of legitimizing the EU (the new governance), the building of critical discourse (the new dependence) and the effects of this confrontation on the implementation of agreements.