During his State of the Union speech on Wednesday 12 September, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker proposed that the European Union deepen its economic and trade relations with Africa through a policy focused on sustainable investment and job creation. He thus suggested a "new alliance" between Europe and Africa as equals.
"Africa does not need charity, it needs true and fair partnerships. And Europe needs this partnership just as much (...) We want to build a new partnership with Africa. Today, we are proposing a new Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs between Europe and Africa", Juncker said.
In his view, this "new Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs" would help create up to 10 million jobs in Africa and establish a permanent framework for attracting foreign investment. "We are not starting from scratch", he said, mentioning the External Investment Plan for Africa and the EU's neighbouring countries, which is supposed to mobilise over €44 billion in both the public and private investment. Projects already in the pipeline will unlock €24 billion.
While 36% of Africa's trade in goods is with the European Union, this trade is not enough. "I believe we should develop the numerous European-African trade agreements into a continent-to-continent free trade agreement", he said. This is the Commission's long-term goal.
In the opinion of European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, this proposal is "in the right direction". Tajani stated that the European Parliament has for long been wanting a development fund for Africa, and he said that Europe had woken up "a bit too late on the issue of migration".
The leader of the ALDE Group, Guy Verhofstadt, said it was "possible to create the biggest economic area in the world with Africa", and he added that "this would be a real alternative for Africa". "See what China has done on this continent!" he said.
In June, the European Council confirmed the resolve of the 28 EU member states to contribute to the socio-economic transformation of the African continent in order to combat the deep-rooted causes of migration (see EUROPE 12052).
Speaking on behalf of the Austrian presidency of the EU Council, Austria's Secretary of State Karoline Edtstadler announced that a high level forum would be organised in Vienna in December. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)