Torn between reality (the initialing of interim agreements by Cote D'Ivoire and Ghana) and doubt or lack of interest in negotiating the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the EU, ECOWAS finds itself in a complex situation, writes *Cheikh Tidiane Dieye.

Faced with the reality of the signing of a bilateral EPA by Côte d'Ivoire and an interim EPA by Ghana, political authorities, negotiators and stakeholders of civil society and private sector of West Africa are still looking for an answer to the dilemma in which they find themselves. Either to sign a regional EPA with the European Union, even without being quite ready to do so, to save regional integration by rendering null and void the agreements of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, or to continue with negotiations for an undetermined period to reach a better agreement and run the risk of seeing Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana implementing their EPAs under pressure from the European Union.

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