So far the EU has only managed to get a few countries to sign and ratify them. For the countries of the franc zone, these EPAs would have the effect of a double sanction: their products would be penalised by the CFA franc, which is a strong currency, and by renewed international competition caused by the withdrawal of tariff and regulatory protections. There is no more effective recipe for keeping them in the trap of primary specialisation.

Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa's Last Colonial Curr…, loc. 306