AUTHOR COPY Original Article Lost in Translation? EU Development Policy in the Anglophone and Francophone Eastern Caribbean Matthew Louis Bishop Institute of International Relations, University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. E-mail: matthew.bishop@sta.uwi.edu Abstract The European Union’s process of establishing Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with its members’ former colonies – such as the English-speaking Caribbean – has attracted much critical commentary, which focuses on how EPAs go well beyond what is necessary for WTO-com- pliance and force many smaller, weaker countries into liberalised reciprocal trading relationships in which they are poorly equipped to compete. A lesser-discussed dimension is found in the case of the French Caribbean Overseas Departments of Martinique and Guadeloupe. As integral regions of the EU, their experience of European policy differs markedly from that of their independent Anglophone neighbours, as they continue to enjoy protected markets and heavy subsidies. This article draws out some of the contradictions and inconsistencies in European development policy towards the Eastern Caribbean. It also considers, theoretically speaking, some of the reasons why this divergence exists, and what the implications are for EU rhetoric and practice on issues of development. Le processus de mise en œuvre d’Accords de Partenariat E ´ conomiques (APEs) dans lequel l’Union europe´enne est engage´e avec ses anciennes colonies, dont notamment les Caraı¨bes anglophones, fait l’objet de nombreuses critiques qui soulignent en particulier que les APEs imposent des re`gles qui vont bien au dela` de ce qui est ne´cessaire afin d’eˆtre conforme aux exigences de l’OMC et forcent de nombreux petits pays a` entrer dans des relations commerciales re´ciproques et libe´ralise´es avec des pays avec lesquels ils ne peuvent rivaliser. Un aspect moins aborde´ concerne le cas des de´partements franc ¸ais des Caraı¨bes, la Martinique et la Guadeloupe. En tant que re´gions a` part entie`re de l’UE, elles ressentent les effets de la politique europe´enne d’une manie`re bien diffe´rente de leur voisines inde´pendantes anglophones car elles continuent a` be´ne´ficier de marche´s prote´ge´s et d’importantes subventions. Cet article met en lumie`re certaines contradictions dans la politique europe´enne de de´veloppement dans les Caraı¨bes orientales. D’un point de vue the´orique, il examine certaines des raisons pour lesquelles ce manque de cohe´rence existe et ses conse´quences sur le discours et les pratiques de l’UE concernant les questions de de´veloppement. European Journal of Development Research (2011) 23, 337–353. doi:10.1057/ejdr.2011.9 Keywords: Caribbean; CARIFORUM; EU; EPA; overseas territories; French Caribbean Introduction Europe has forever loomed large on the Caribbean developmental vista. From the brutal creation of Caribbean society in the colonial era, to contemporary global restructuring, the region’s development has always been inextricably linked with European influence. The post-war period witnessed the end of formal empire in the Caribbean, with most of the different territories becoming decolonised, either as independent states, through full integration with the metropolis, or by some other unorthodox method of free association. In the case of our analysis here, the empirical focus of the article centres on four of the tiny r 2011 European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes 0957-8811 European Journal of Development Research Vol. 23, 3, 337–353 www.palgrave-journals.com/ejdr/