A year and a half after the new Strategy with Africa proposed by the European Commission was made public, the new partnership between the two continents is still being defined. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic with Africa’s first economic recession in 25 years and a sharp rise in poverty and debt has created new challenges for the two continents’ agenda, highlighting new gaps to address on the way forward.
With the European Union-African Union summit scheduled for February 2022, the definition of the new partnership is once again gathering momentum, while both sides are still trying to define common positions. Will these two “natural partners” be able to tackle the most urgent challenges and turn them into opportunities for collaboration and engagement? What are the priority issues, and which ones are potentially most divisive?
Introduction
Paolo Magri, ISPI Executive Vice President
1. The Going Gets Tough: Will Europe and Africa Get Going Together?
Giovanni Carbone (ISPI and University of Milan)
2. A New Strategy with Africa? The EU Plan Before and After Covid-19
Chloe Teevan (European Centre for Development Policy Management - ECDPM)
3. Renewing the Cotonou Partnership Agreement: Déjà Vu or New Deal?
Walter Kennes (European Centre for Development Policy Management - ECDPM)
4. Migration: EU vs African Perspectives and Approaches
Amanda Bisong (European Centre for Development Policy Management - ECDPM)
5. Security: EU Concerns and African Initiatives in Inter-Regional Cooperation
Tshepo Gwatiwa (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg)
6. Europe’s Pivot to Africa: National Strategies and the Challenge of Coherence
Giovanni Faleg (European Union Institute for Security Studies - EUISS), Carlo Palleschi (La Sapienza University, Rome)
Conclusions and Policy Implications,
Giovanni Carbone, Rose W. Ngugi (Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis - KIPPRA), Abebe Shimeles (African Economic Research Consortium)
