EU SETBACK HAS POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS FOR CARICOM

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana)     Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) His Excellency Edwin Carrington says CARICOM Heads of Government will have to look carefully at the recent setbacks experienced by the European Union (EU) and analyse possible implications for CARICOM.

“We in CARICOM have forged our integration arrangements very much along the lines of what the Europeans have done in the EU. They have had one of the greatest constitutional setbacks a few weeks ago when they tried to move forward with their constitutional programme, ” Mr. Carrington recently told journalists in Saint Lucia.

Mr. Carrington expressed the view that a time when the Region is pushing further into a closer integration with the Caribbean Single market and Economy (CSME), it would be “folly for us not to pay attention to that and to see what lessons there may be for us as we try to go forward.”

The CARICOM Secretary-General said that was one of the important items the Heads of Government will be considering with a view towards an analysis of the wider implications for CARICOM.

On the question of Haiti, Mr. Carrington said the issue of Haiti was squarely on the agenda for discussion. He said the situation in that country could warrant a meeting of its own, however “Heads will find some time to see how best we can enhance our contribution to a solution to that situation.”

He said the CARICOM community faced a major problem in terms of its territorial integrity. But while there were border challenges in Belize from Guatemala and in Guyana from Venezuela, none of these was as vexing at the moment as the problem of its newest member Haiti.