Caribbean News

Political Union Endorsed – In Theory By Peter Ischyrion

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, August 19, 2008 (IPS) – You have to hand it to Patrick Manning, Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, when it comes to persistence.
 Since 1992, when he held initial talks with the leaders of Barbados and Guyana, he has been quietly lobbying his Caribbean Community (Caricom) colleagues to forge an ambitious political union in the region. Last week, Manning’s dream was partly fulfilled.
 
 Flanked by the leaders of St. Lucia, Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Manning joined in signing a memorandum of understanding indicating their intent to achieve “an appropriate political integration by 2013” — although exactly what form this will take remains unclear.
 
 The new initiative comes at a time when the economies of the sub-region face tremendous pressure. Tourism and bananas have been the main pillars of the economies of the eastern Caribbean countries, but in recent years rulings by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have seriously undermined the banana industry in the islands of St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica.
 
 Moreover, the high cost of air travel and the decision by some major carriers, notably American Airlines, to cut back on flights to the Caribbean and the ongoing threat of terrorism, have meant trouble for countries like Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts-Nevis and St. Lucia that depend on tourism.
 
 In recent years, investors from oil-rich Trinidad and Tobago have pumped millions of dollars into the economies of these islands, from banking to manufacturing to the services industries, thereby commanding much interest in their development.
 
 Ever since the West Indies Federation collapsed in 1962, there have been repeated attempts at forging closer unity among the countries of the Caribbean, with the 15-member regional integration movement Caricom among the many initiatives.
 
 The Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas which governs Caricom makes provisions for individual Caribbean countries to form smaller groupings in the name of solidifying the unity the regional leaders crave so much.
 
 The demise of the West Indian Federation led many of the more developed countries of English-speaking Caribbean to seek their own socio-economic fortunes, first through political independence from Britain, while still maintaining the need for some form of unity.
 
 Not to be outdone, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Montserrat and St. Kitts-Nevis in 1966 agreed on the need to establish their own grouping, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) “highlighting a common determination to strengthen the links between themselves by uniting their efforts and resources and establishing and strengthening common institutions which would serve to increase their bargaining power as regards third countries or groupings of countries.”
 
 Earl Huntley, who now heads the Caricom Office in Haiti and was a member of the now defunct St Lucia Independent Committee for OECS Political Union, noted that the leaders have not indicated the form of political union they were contemplating.
 
 In his book “The Union of East Caribbean States – Thoughts on a Form”, Huntley argued that the leaders preferred a “model of union to emerge from the consultations with the people of the various islands”.
 
 This time around, the leaders involved in the new initiative have named academic and former St. Lucian Prime Minister Professor Vaughan Lewis as well as Trinidadian diplomat Dr. Cuthbert Joseph to prepare a road map by the end of this year that would hash out the details and offer concrete models.
 
 “And until such time as the report is received, then really it would be premature to be talking about the exact form it will take and so on,” Manning said.
 
 However, any new regional body — such as one along the lines of the European Union — would require new governance arrangements, implying ceding elements of national sovereignty.
 
 “If we are really concerned about the people we should be willing to relinquish a certain amount of sovereignty in the interest of the political unity of the region,” said newly elected Grenadian Prime Minister Tillman Thomas. “I believe we should work towards that deadline and set out to educate our people so that whatever structure that is more appropriate for that political union we should really try to give it support.”
 
 The Port of Spain mini-summit was also attended by the foreign ministers of Guyana and Barbados and the statement issued afterwards indicated that the initiative was not designed to “undermine the single market or economic cohesion established by the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas”.
 
 They made it clear that participation was open to all member states wishing to commit to the achievement of the single economy by 2011 and the political integration two years later.
 
 The single economy is part of the wider Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) that would facilitate the free movement of goods, services, and labour across the region.
 
 Former Antigua and Barbuda diplomat Sir Ronald Sanders, who favours a political union of all Caricom states, but also welcomes any attempt to explore a political union between any number of Caribbean countries, does not hold out much hope for a union involving the three OECS countries and Trinidad and Tobago.
 
 “A much easier option for a political union exists within the OECS itself. They already have the foundation for such a union. It is rooted in their common currency, their common central bank, (and) their common judicial services,” he said. 

 
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