 The Agreement was signed after 18 months of negotiations in February 1975 by the nine EC Member States and 46 developing countries which became formally known as the ACP countries.Although colonial ties with Europe remained to be a decisive factor for the new signatories’ participation, the composition of the group of developing countries showed a slow diversification of European development policy and therefore silenced some of the voices which had criticised the selective approach of Yaoundé.The relationship between the European Union (EU) and the ACP group changed significantly during the 1990s.