On Thursday 21 November, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) debated with European Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen the role of the regions and municipalities in implementing the European Union’s strategy in Africa.
Follow-up. CoR rapporteur Guido Milana (Renew Europe, Italian), who has drafted an opinion for the committee, said that the EU’s partnership with Africa lacked a system for monitoring projects implemented through ‘Global Gateway’ and stressed the need to invest in sustainable development projects.
Former MEP and deputy mayor of Nîmes (France) Franck Proust (EPP) insisted on the need for rigorous monitoring of EU financial aid, including audits and progress reports.
“We need to increase the EU’s presence on the ground by relying on our local and regional authorities to ensure concrete, transparent and effective projects”, he said.
Migration. Councillors from the cities of Prachatice and Pistoia, Robert Zeman (ECR, Czech) and Lorenzo Galligani (ECR, Italian), both called for the EU to discourage illegal immigration into Europe from Africa, citing a “strategic necessity”.
Anne Rudisuhli (Renew Europe), departmental councillor for Bouches-du-Rhône (France), welcomed the report prepared by Mr Milana, highlighting the importance of young people in cooperation with Africa and decentralised cooperation.
“These young people are also those who, by the thousands, arrive on our soil. Our regions are taking on disproportionate responsibilities, often in a strategic vacuum”, she said, referring to a “humanitarian challenge that must be dealt with in a coherent way”.
The president of the Province of Lucca (Italy), Luca Menesini (PES), has called for an intensification of decentralised cooperation with Africa.
“The Mediterranean isn’t a wall, we have many discussions, but people’s lives are at stake on this sea, this area shouldn’t be a graveyard”, emphasised Mr Menesini on the subject of migration.
Investments. At the end of the discussions, the European commissioner for international partnerships highlighted the advantages of private investment under the Global Gateway strategy, stressing its importance on an African continent whose demographic growth is expected to be much higher than that of Europe.
“1.2 billion young people in developing countries will enter the labour market within the decade, but only 420 million jobs will be created”, warned Ms Urpilainen.
See Guido Milana’s draft opinion: https://aeur.eu/f/efb (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)