Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution with 540 votes in favour, 20 against with 2 abstentions on the work of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) in 2004. (Please refer to the summary dated 21/02/2005).

In addition, Parliament calls on the JPA to help strengthen the role of parliamentarians in the ACP countries in terms of exercising parliamentary control of their respective governments, particularly with regard to development aid. It equally calls on the JPA to exercise to the full its remit of democratic supervision of the CDE and CTA as bodies set up under the Cotonou Agreement, as it did at Addis Ababa within the framework of a general debate with the CDE and in The Hague with the CTA, in the context of its consideration of the report on food aid and food security.

Parliament congratulates the JPA Bureau on having rebalanced the agenda of the JPA sessions so as to leave more time for contributions from the floor and fewer and, in most cases, shorter contributions from the platform.

Lastly, Parliament calls on the British Presidency and the Bureau of the EP to make the requisite arrangements for holding the 10th session in the United Kingdom.

Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution with 540 votes in favour, 20 against with 2 abstentions on the work of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) in 2004. (Please refer to the summary dated 21/02/2005).

In addition, Parliament calls on the JPA to help strengthen the role of parliamentarians in the ACP countries in terms of exercising parliamentary control of their respective governments, particularly with regard to development aid. It equally calls on the JPA to exercise to the full its remit of democratic supervision of the CDE and CTA as bodies set up under the Cotonou Agreement, as it did at Addis Ababa within the framework of a general debate with the CDE and in The Hague with the CTA, in the context of its consideration of the report on food aid and food security.

Parliament congratulates the JPA Bureau on having rebalanced the agenda of the JPA sessions so as to leave more time for contributions from the floor and fewer and, in most cases, shorter contributions from the platform.

Lastly, Parliament calls on the British Presidency and the Bureau of the EP to make the requisite arrangements for holding the 10th session in the United Kingdom.

The committee adopted the own-initiative report by John BOWIS ( EPP-ED , UK ) on the work of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in 2004. Among the key points of the report:

- the JPA should strengthen its role as a forum for political dialogue, in accordance with Article 8 of the Cotonou Agreement. To contribute to this process, it should continue its work on human rights;

- the Bureau of the JPA was to be congratulated for its efforts in making a positive contribution to the peaceful resolution of the border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia, by means of dialogue and in full respect for international law;

- attention should be drawn to the political importance of the resolution adopted by the JPA in November 2004 on the situation in Darfur, condemning the ongoing violence and calling for a political solution based on United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolutions 1564 and 1574 (2004);

- the Commission and other addressees of the resolution were urged to improve the follow-up of previous resolutions, in particular during meetings of Standing Committees;

- the JPA should adopt in plenary sitting in Bamako ( Mali ) its report on the budgetisation of the EDF;

- the inaugural session of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) held in Addis Ababa in March 2004 was welcomed. MEPs proposed that they should work closely with PAP Members.