Preparations are intensifying two days before the sixth European Union-African Union (AU) summit on 17-18 February in Brussels - a major geostrategic challenge for the EU, even if the Ukraine crisis threatens to overshadow it.
The EU27 ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) met twice on Monday 14 February and reached agreement in principle on the draft political declaration in the evening.
“We have entered an intense phase of negotiation, and things are moving forward methodically”, said a diplomatic source on Monday evening. The project has been transmitted to the African side. Assuming that the African Union would respond on the same day, a new Coreper meeting was possible on Tuesday evening.
In any case, a meeting is scheduled for Wednesday at the level of the EU27 ambassadors. And it is not impossible that the negotiations will be finalised on the sidelines of the summit itself.
For the Europeans, this summit, which was originally scheduled to take place at the end of 2020, is expected to lay the foundations for a renewed and deepened partnership between the AU and the EU, with political commitment at the highest level, based on trust and a clear understanding of their mutual interests, for growth and shared prosperity, peace and security.
It will be accompanied by an investment package that takes into account global challenges such as climate change and the health crisis, with a horizon of 2030. These are the main lines of the draft political declaration agreed by the Europeans, which will be supported by concrete initiatives of this enhanced partnership (see EUROPE 12889/6).
The European Commission has confirmed to the EU27 an investment package of more than €150 billion for the Africa-Europe programme until 2027 - under the name ‘Global Gateway’ - to finance large strategic infrastructure projects, but also for health, youth and education.
This offer, announced by Ursula von der Leyen in Dakar, is included in the draft declaration (see EUROPE 12888/1). “A project for connectivity between the two continents by submarine cables and satellites”, for example, was mentioned by European Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager.
For the AU, peace, security and the fight against terrorism, infrastructure in Africa, agriculture, green economic recovery, the reallocation of IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) by rich countries, the energy transition and the digital transformation of the African continent are the main priorities, according to the AU’s current chairperson, Macky Sall.
The temporary lifting of intellectual property rights on patents for vaccines is also an important African demand (see EUROPE 12889/6), but the EU continues to advocate compulsory licences, such as those enjoyed by Rwanda and South Africa, and technology transfers.
For the SDRs, of which the G20 aims to voluntarily reallocate €100 billion to developing countries (see EUROPE 12824/13), the Africans want a significant share to go to them, as advocated by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron (see EUROPE 12823/9, 12721/2).
The head of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, and the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, have been invited to the summit. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)