Preparations for the sixth EU/African Union Summit on 17-18 February in Brussels are progressing in both the European Parliament and in the EU Council, with some question marks still hanging that the Europeans hope will soon be removed following the African Union Summit which was held in Addis Ababa on 5-6 February.
The EU27 ambassadors had continued their work on Friday 4 February on this summit, which is expected to forge a new EU/Africa alliance through a renewed partnership, guided by a common vision for 2030 and based on prosperity, stability and investment.
These are the main lines of the 3-4 page draft political declaration sent to African partners in mid-January.
“Comments are expected this week”, an EU source told EUROPE (see EUROPE 12882/15).
The European Commission has argued for a political and financial commitment, but calculations have yet to be finalised for Member States’ contributions to leverage the Flagship Investment Plan, which it has prepared with the European External Action Service to make an attractive offer and deploy concrete projects (see EUROPE 12881/13).
The seven interactive roundtables that will take place on 17 and 18 February will each be moderated by Europeans and Africans (one or two co-chairs from the European side per roundtable) on the following topics: - Financing growth; - Health systems and vaccine production; - Agriculture and sustainable development; - Education, culture and vocational training, migration and mobility;; - Private sector support and economic integration; - Peace, security and governance; - Climate change and energy transition, digital and transport connectivity and infrastructure.
Preparations in the European Parliament and S&D Africa Week.
The pan-European pre-summit planned for 10 February in Brussels will not be able to take place in its original form.
It was to bring together MEPs, members of the Pan-African Parliament, the ACP/EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and the European Parliament delegation for relations with South Africa (see EUROPE 12843/8).
Uncertainties regarding the official representation of the leaders of the Organisation of ACP States (OEACP), linked to new appointments at the head of the organisation, are the cause of the change of programme.
A European Parliament meeting will therefore replace the pre-summit meeting.
The draft declaration for the pre-summit is expected to be replaced by a letter to the President of the Parliament, Roberta Metsola, signed by the chairs of all the committees and delegations concerned. The letter will cover the main aspects of the Parliament’s policy towards Africa, namely: economic cooperation, investment, trade, and governance and security issues.
This letter will also be inspired by the European Parliament’s resolution of 25 March 2021 entitled ‘A new EU-Africa strategy - a partnership for sustainable and inclusive development’.
The fifth edition of the S&D Group’s ‘Africa Week’ will be held on 8-9 February to discuss with African partners how to forge the future partnership. See the programme: https://aeur.eu/f/6j
“This is a huge opportunity to shape the future, to identify challenges and to find solutions together”, said Udo Bulmann (S&D, Germany) on 3 February, during the video conference presentation of this event. He cited the response to the Covid-19 crisis, “ the digital transformation, climate change and sustainable development”.
Maria Arena (S&D, Belgium), for her part, insisted on the importance of “investments based on transparency, economic and social development of the populations”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)