A week before the sixth EU-AU summit on 17-18 February in Brussels, the major political groups in the European Parliament (EPP, S&D, Renew Europe), which are all in favour of global governance, confirmed on Thursday 10 February that they expected the summit to strengthen the strategic partnership between Europe and Africa, on an equal footing, so that the two continents can together tackle “global challenges”, with the UN’s sustainable development objectives as their compass.
“China and Russia are advancing their geopolitical interests in Africa. This is why the EU must strengthen its cooperation with the African Union and its partners in the African sub-regions and individual African countries, in order to ensure security and development and to achieve long-term peace and stability”, underline the chairmen of the parliamentary committees involved, the European Parliament delegation responsible for relations with the Pan-African Parliament and the European Parliament delegation to the ACP/EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in a political declaration detailing their expectations.
The idea is that the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, will deliver this message at the EU/AU summit (see EUROPE 12885/10).
According to these MEPs, the EU and the AU must place a human rights-based approach to policies on trade, migration, gender equality, corporate accountability, security and the fight against terrorism and extremism at the heart of their cooperation agenda.
In March 2021, the European Parliament had already called for a renewed partnership of equals, focusing on human development, in particular health and education (see EUROPE 12686/16).
“EU-Africa trade and investment relations must ensure the productive transformation of the African continent, be mutually beneficial, open, equitable and sustainable, and contribute to the creation of jobs and private investment supporting a green growth path”, the political declaration states.
Its signatories want the summit to “pave the way for a sustainable and inclusive post-Covid-19 economic recovery, prioritising accelerated access to vaccines, fighting poverty, putting youth at the heart of it and promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, as well as implementing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.
They call on the EU-AU partnership to take full account of the effects of climate change in Africa and to step up efforts to comply with the Paris Agreement.
On Tuesday 15 February, MEPs from all political groups will have the opportunity to debate the future of EU-Africa relations with the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, in an exchange scheduled for the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg (see other news in this newsletter).
At the end of the fifth edition of the S&D Group’s ‘Africa Week’ (see EUROPE 12885/10), social democrats in the European Parliament have made a partnership of equals a major expectation. “A partnership of equals, democracy, respect for human rights and due diligence risk being empty words if Europe does not engage in a true partnership. The EU must put aside its lazy approach that democracy means the status quo, due diligence means business as usual and equal partnership means that some partners are more equal than others”, the group warned in a statement on Thursday 10 February.
In a position paper adopted on the same day, the EPP group pledges to boost private investment and accelerate job creation on the continent. “We need to build a win-win partnership that strengthens trade and economic ties between Africa and Europe in order to create jobs for Africa’s fast-growing population and allow European companies access to new investment opportunities on the African continent”, said Development Committee chair Tomas Tobé (Swedish EPP).
“We are committed to dialogue with our African partners at all levels. It is important for us to involve African civil societies as a whole, including churches and faith-based organisations, in the preparation of decisions that affect them”, stressed Hungarian György Hölvényi, coordinator of the group in the Committee on Development. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)