December 2007 was the deadline for the negotiation of new trade agreements between Europe and 76 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries. Oxfam has been campaigning on these agreements since negotiations started in 2002 to ensure that they give developing countries a fair deal. Unfortunately, the negotiations haven't lived up to their promises. Europe insisted that the ACP countries negotiate a far-reaching free-trade agreement that included many provisions that ACP countries continue to resist in World Trade Organisation talks and don't want to have included in a bilateral deal with Europe.

By September 2007 it was clear that, with the exception of the Caribbean, which broadly agreed with Europe's approach, far-reaching deals would be impossible to conclude, as there were such deep disagreements between the two sides. Europe agreed to postpone talks until 2008 on some of the contentious issues but insisted that the essence of a deal be concluded by December 2007. If deals weren't done, Europe threatened to raise tariffs on ACP exports to EU. This would have effectively closed Europe's markets for ACP exporters overnight, causing many businesses to collapse and destroying jobs in some of the world's poorest countries.

In the face of the threat of collapse in their main export sectors, a series of ACP countries concluded deals with Europe just days before the deadline. ACP Ministers were very angry about this unfair pressure, and on 13 December 2007, they issued a strongly worded declaration condemning it. They exclaimed that 'the EU's mercantilist interests have taken precedence over the developmental and regional integration interests'.

Oxfam is deeply concerned that the new deals will undermine development and regional integration, particularly in Africa. In 2008, Oxfam will continue to campaign to ensure that the worst aspects of these deals can be renegotiated and that no more pressure to widen their scope is brought to bear on ACP countries.

Read Oxfam's opinion on the deals in the Guardian's Comment is Free column