EU relations with its associated overseas territories

There are 20 overseas countries and territories (OCTs) which are linked to Denmark, France, the Netherlands and the UK and are associated with the EU. Even though listed in the EC Treaty as the 21st OCT, the arrangements for association are in practice not be applied to Bermuda, in accordance with the wishes of its Government

Their nationals are in principle EU citizens, even though the OCTs are not part of the EU or directly subject to EU law. They benefit from association arrangements focusing on:

• economic and trade cooperation – favourable rules of origin and a very advantageous trade system
• sustainable development – support for policies and strategies relating to production, trade development, human, social and environmental development, cultural and social cooperation
• regional cooperation and integration – support for economic cooperation and development, free movement of people, goods, services, labour and technology, liberalised trade and payments, and sectoral reform policies at regional level.

Trilateral meetings between the Commission, the OCTs and the relevant EU country include:

• the annual OCT Forum involving the Commission, all the OCTs and all the relevant EU countries
• smaller partnership meetings between the Commission, the EU country and its OCTs.

Development funding

The EU lays down a development strategy for each OCT in the form of a Single Programming Document (SPD).

For 2008-13, OCTs have been allocated €286m ofEuropean development funding:

• €195m for specific programmes (all OCTs with a per capita GNP < the EU's)
• €40m for regional cooperation and integration
• €30m is allocated to finance the OCT Investment Facility managed by the European Investment Bank (EIB); it should be noted that the EIB also makes available EUR 30 million for loans from its own resources (and thus outside the EDF) in accordance with Annex IIB to the Overseas Association Decision
• €6m for technical assistance
• €15m for emergency aid.

The OCTs are eligible for participation in and funding from EU programmes such as the research framework programme, education and training programmes, the competitiveness and innovation framework programme, cultural and audiovisual programmes, etc, reflecting their status as part of the European family.

Future EU-OCT relations

Based on the experience acquired, the Commission wishes to carry out a holistic review of the relations between the EU and the OCTs and to consider a substantial revision of the OCT-EC association. Green Paper on future relations between the EU and the OCTs aims to examine a series of challenges and opportunities and to obtain input from interested parties before defining a new partnership between the EU and the OCTs, in particular in view of the expiry of the current Overseas Association Decision at the end of 2013.

Europe is the biggest provider of development aid in the world.