The 5th and most recent European Union-African Union (EU-AU) Summit took place in Abidjan on 29-30 November 2017. Its focus was on investing in youth and managing migration/mobility. The 6th EU-AU Summit, due to take place in fall 2020, was postponed due to the global health crisis: it will finally take place 17-18 February 2022 in Brussels, under the French presidency of the Council of the EU and Senegalese chairmanship of the African Union (AU).
In order to prepare the European Union’s (EU) position for the Summit - in March 2020, just two days before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic - the EU adopted the Joint Communication Towards a comprehensive Strategy with Africa, proposing to deepen cooperation with the African continent based on shared interests and values, in light of today’s global challenges. This was the result of a growing call for a true partnership of equals with Africa as a key geopolitical priority and partner for the EU.
These policy orientations were further endorsed at the highest level by the Council Conclusions in June 2020 and the European Council Conclusions in October 2020. The EU’s objective was to initiate a new ambitious partnership with Africa and to make the next EU-AU Summit a pivotal moment for renewing a comprehensive joint strategic approach that delivers on these aspirations.
A difficult environment
This year’s Summit takes place in a difficult context still marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has added a layer of complexity to the relations between the two continents.
In fact, Africa feels increasingly left behind in the Covid-19 response and recovery. It demands better access to vaccines (only 11% of Africa’s population is vaccinated vs. 70% in the EU). The discovery of the Omicron variant further complicated relations when all 27 European Member States suspended travel from seven southern African countries. Despite the travel ban having been lifted and the fact that Europe was the first continent to put in place a mechanism to show solidarity, with over 3 billion Euros contribution to the COVAX facility and 100 million Euros for vaccination roll out campaigns in Africa, a degree of tension remains.
On the economic front, advanced countries have been able to provide their economies with fiscal and monetary stimulus packages equal to about 24% of their GDPs. Africa has enacted fiscal and monetary stimulus measures equal to only between 2 and 6 % of their GDPs. And in this area, the EU is supporting African efforts by pushing for an increase in the reallocation of Special Drawing Rights to African economies, from EUR 33 billion to at least EUR 100 billion.
Another issue of concern is climate change and the transition to sustainable energy. Africa is one of the continents most affected by the climate crisis and biodiversity loss, while being among the lowest carbon emitters in the world. Some African leaders are demanding more support to adapt to a just energy transition and mitigate the consequences of climate change and environmental degradation. They also dispute the dismissal of fossil fuels, as all sources of energy are now needed to advance Africa’s economic transformation.
In his intervention at the conference “Encounters with Africa” in Rome in October 2021, African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki summarised such irritants: access to vaccines as “a striking example of injustice”, Debt Suspension Initiative and Special Drawing Rights allocations welcome but only “partial”, climate change and green transition “an unbearable injustice”.
At an informal Leaders’ meeting hosted by President Charles Michel in December 2022, African leaders also emphasised Africa’s need for massive infrastructure investments, strong health structures, and peace and security support fit for purpose.
Clearly, Africa expects more from Europe than from other regions. The EU is keen to step up its relationship with Africa to unleash and tap into the continent's potential (youngest and fastest growing continent on earth, digitally savvy and entrepreneurial spirit, and wealth of natural resources), and to defend its position of privileged partner in a context of expanding influence from actors challenging its interests and values (China, Russia, Turkey).
In addition, political turmoil and coups d’état have destabilised a number of African countries and regions over the past months. In several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa - Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Eswatini, and Sudan - the EU was prevented from adopting the usual national cooperation programme covering the present Multiannual Financial Framework for the period 2021-27.
A Summit that delivers
As agreed at the AU-EU Ministerial meeting in Kigali in October, the Summit will include discussions on the joint Covid-19 response (access to vaccines, medicines and technologies), investing in the recovery (green and digital transformation), working together for peace, security and governance, and migration and mobility.
The next Summit is now a golden opportunity to convey a strong commitment in various areas of the partnership and re-create an upbeat dynamic going beyond the bitterness and frustration that have marked the past months.
The leaders of the EU and the AU, as well as of their respective member states, are expected to discuss how both continents can build greater prosperity.
In this regard the Summit will dramatically change the way it will be organised, around a series of thematic roundtables on the following topics:
- growth financing
- 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]
Since the EU, as host of the Summit, is the pen-holder for outcome documents, the aim is to propose a Summit declaration on a joint vision for 2030.
The joint declaration will be complemented by an ambitious Africa-Europe Investment Package for inclusive growth and green and digital transformation and a health and education strengthening package translating the political vision into several tangible actions to be agreed upon at the Summit and implemented over the coming years. As the European Investment Package will represent the first example of Global Gateway in practice, only actions that are deemed transformational, sizeable and capable of delivering concrete results over the next 12-24 months should be presented.
A new summit of people
Lastly, in the run-up to the summit, the EU is organising the first edition of the Africa-Europe week, which will be a key moment to strengthen the links that connect people from both continents and to bring together youths, civil society and the private sector from Africa and Europe to discuss the aspects of the Africa-EU Partnership that matter to them the most. In particular, the Africa-Europe week will include:
- The 7th EU-Africa Business Forum (EABF22), co-organised by the European Commission, the African Union Commission, as well as EU and African business organisations.
- The Youth Track, which will connect together young people from Africa, Europe, and the diaspora to contribute to the future of the EU-Africa Partnership.
- The Civil Society and Local Authorities track, where the African and European Civil Society and Local Authorities will discuss a way forward towards ‘participatory and transparent governance’ based on a people-centred approach.
- The Cultural Track, which will stimulate intercultural dialogue and exchanges on cultural relations between Africa and Europe.
A fresh start?
As Maisha represents an experiment of an Afro-European musical collective that unites 12 talented and acknowledged artists from both continents with different musical trajectories, styles, and even instruments, so the Summit should and has the chances to create a new experiment of partnership between 55 African and 27 European countries.
A partnership that gives a new and unprecedented impetus to the relation between the two Continents. A partnership that matters in this specific and fragile global environment and that could be a true alliance for achieving common objectives and addressing common threats.
The information and views set out in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Commission.
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