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ECDPM aims to share information on the Joint Africa-EU Strategy, on related events and positions of civil society representatives as well as provide some analysis on the progress of the negotiations. Click here for a brief introduction of the process. Apart from this bulletin, see also: www.europafrica.org

This is the sixteenth issue of the Europafrica bulletin (click here for the previous issues), which will give you an up-date on the implementation of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy. The bulletin is issued 1-2 times per month. Subscribe by sending an e-mail to: europafrica@ecdpm.org

News

7th Meeting of the AU-EU Task Force in Addis

The headquarters of the African Union hosted on 17 and 18 April 2008, the seventh meeting of the Task Force of the African Union Commission (AUC) and the European Union (EU) which was attended by a hundred officials of both organizations.

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Lesotho Hosts Second Consultative Meeting on the Implementation of the First Action Plan of the Africa-EU Joint Strategy

The African Union Commission, through the Department of Economic Affairs, has organized a Consultative Meeting on the Implementation of the First Action Plan of the Joint Strategy, scheduled to take place from 14-15 April 2008, in Maseru, Kingdom of Lesotho. The Consultative meeting would cover the Eastern and the Southern Regions of the Continent and discuss the implementation and monitoring of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy and the Action Plan.

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First AU Regional consultative meeting on the Implementation of the First Action Plan of the Africa/EU Strategy

The African Union has organised its 1st Regional Consultation on the Implementation of the Plan of Action of the Africa-EU Joint Strategy in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from the 19th until the 20th of March and thus gathered actors from the West, North and Central Africa, as well as the EU, to discuss the monitoring and implementation of the Joint Strategy and come up with solid and good suggestions.

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The consequences of EPAs on the future of the ACP Group

On the 14th of March 2008 the Secretary General of the ACP Group has given a speech at the 12th Session of the ACP Parliamentary Assembly in Ljubljana, Slovenia. There, he underlined again the current discussion around the implementation of the EPAs between the ACP countries and EU. According to him, the EPAs, if not properly implemented, will have long term negative effects on the economic, social, and political realms of the ACP States and Regions.

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Meeting on Europe-Africa Research Network (EARN) on the 2nd of April in Brussels

On the initiative of the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) and the Lisbon-based Instituto de Estudos Estrategicos Internacionais (IEEI) a meeting has been organised on the 2nd of April in Brussels to discuss the future work and internal organisation of the Europe-Africa Research Network EARN. The meeting was attended by over 20 policy research institutes and networks from Africa and Europe.

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Jean Ping and Louis Michel met in Brussels ( 8.04.08 )

The President the African Union Commission, Jean Ping and the European Commissioner for Development and for Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, met this morning on the 8th of April to discuss topics of common interest between Africa and Europe.

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OECD Aid figures show ODA drop and EU Plans from the 9 April 2008

According to the OECD figures, Development aid from the European Union’s 27 countries fell last year urging governments to live up to their commitments to give more to poor nations.

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Integration of NEPAD into the AU shall happen within 12 month

During ‘the mini-summit meeting’ of the Ad Hoc Committee of the African Union (AU) in Dakar , consisting of heads of state initiators of NEPAD, it is intended to deepen the reflection on the integration of the NEPAD secretariat in the commission of the AU within 12 month said Monday in Dakar, the Minister Delegate in charge of Maghreb and African Affairs of Algeria, Abdelkader Messahel.

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EC Communication on the Follow-up of the Joint Strategy and Action Plan

The Communication “ Follow-up to the Africa-EU-Lisbon Summit: engaging the Commission in a partnership of results” tries to inform about the measures that need to be in place for the implementation of the commitments of the Lisbon Summit. It focuses on the political and institutional arrangements both at Commission, EU and African levels, required to ensure the implementation of the Joint Africa-EU- Strategy and its Action Plan.

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Public Consultation on EU-China-Africa launched by the European Commission

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the following subject: “The EU, Africa and China: Towards trilateral dialogue and cooperation on Africa’s peace, stability and sustainable development” with a consultation period starting on the 16/04/2008 until the 13/06/2008. The purpose of this consultation is to gather information and opinion from all African, Chinese and European stakeholders and
i) on the EU proposal to set up a trilateral (Africa-China-EU) dialogue and cooperation notably in the areas of peace and security, infrastructure and sustainable management of natural resources;
ii) and eventually on possible joint actions to be taken by the EU, its Member States, China and Africa to support it.

Read more about the consultation - html
Consultation document - doc

Other consultations: Public consultation “‘Towards an EU approach to local democratic governance, decentralisation and territorial development”. In order to stimulate the debate and receive external contributions to enrich the policy making process, the Commission launches this public consultation supported by an “issues paper” and a “background document” (see attached documents). The issues paper aims at identifying the main questions to be addressed in this preparatory process. The public consultation is expected to provide inputs for a Commission’s Communication, which should be finalised in July 2008

Current Readings on Africa

China still a small player in Africa
Firoze Manji argues that in comparison to Europe and the US, China in Africa is still a small player. While keeping an eye out on China, Africans should not be distracted from paying attention to the West’s continued exploitation of the continent including the use of military might to protect its economic interests.

India takes on China in Africa
In this essay, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta adds yet another layer by looking at India’s growing role in Africa

More on the India-Africa-Summit
Review of the Summit

Meetings/ Upcoming Events

28.04 Europe Africa Business Summit. The state and the future of Europe-Africa Economic Relations (Hamburg, Germany)
28.-30.04 First Regional meeting of the JPA ACP-EU (Windhoek, Namibia)
06.05 ACP Meeting (Council, Brussels)
08.05 DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION (Council, Brussels)
26.05 GENERAL AFFAIRS AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS COUNCIL (Council, Brussels)
27.05 GENERAL AFF. AND EXT. RELATIONS COUNCIL/DEVELOP.MIN. (Council, Brussels)
25.-6-26.06 Meeting of the ACP-EU Follow-up Committee (EESC, Brussels)
June : Africa-EU Ministerial Troika (tbc)
Beginning of July : African Union Summit

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The headquarters of the African Union hosted on 17 and 18 April 2008, the seventh meeting of the Task Force of the African Union Commission (AUC) and the European Union (EU) which was attended by a hundred officials of both organizations.

It has enabled African and European partners to examine the practical modalities of implementation and monitoring of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy. The meeting was also an opportunity to discuss preparations for the next reunion of the two Commissions, scheduled for the last quarter of this year and to review several issues of common interest, including the future role of the EU Task Force - AUC, the Association of Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and how the exchange staff and expertise between the two partners.

A communication strategy has been identified to accompany the actions undertaken in the various areas of cooperation identified in the Action Plan for the Joint Strategy. This communication should also serve as a key to exchange information between the two parties, to identify ownership of the Joint Strategy and promote a more faithful image of both partners. Finally, the Task Force has focused on the 8 partnerships. These are the fields of peace and security, governance and human rights, trade and regional integration, the millennium goals for development, energy, climate change , Migration, flexibility and employment as well as science, technology, information society and space.

The Communication “ Follow-up to the Africa-EU-Lisbon Summit: engaging the Commission in a partnership of results” tries to inform about the measures that need to be in place for the implementation of the commitments of the Lisbon Summit. It focuses on the political and institutional arrangements both at Commission, EU and African levels, required to ensure the implementation of the Joint Africa-EU- Strategy and its Action Plan. It also explains the existing conditions and action to take for the full and sustainable establishment of the new EU delegation to the African Union (AU) as a major instrument for the implementation of the Joint Strategy and the deepening of relations between the EU and AU and their respective Commissions.

The Communication reveals that at service level, DG DEV, RELEX and AIDCO, acting in synergy and according to their respective mandates, will ensure coherence and overall coordination of the Action Plan implementation process. The existing Commission Africa inter-service task force will be strengthened, in particular with a view to ensuring transparency, the smooth flow of information and the early identification of issues that could possibly touch the institutional competence of the Commission. Thus it proposes that the Task force meets once a month and should be composed of one permanent representative for each DG sharing the responsibility for the implementation of one of the 8 partnerships of the Joint Strategy or involved in a specific cooperation with the African Union Commission. The inter-service task force should ensure the coherence and synergy between the 8 thematic partnerships of the first Action Plan. It should also act as a central coordinating body at Commission’s level notably in the preparation of the annual meetings between the Commission and the AU College, as well as of the six-monthly meetings of the Joint Task Force which bring together the services of the AUC and the EC (+ extended to the EU Council Secretariat for second pillar matters).

With regard to the Council structure, the communication stipulates that there are two scenarios under consideration: (1) the creation of a Brussels-based, cross-pillar working group, with a mandate covering both Sub-Saharan (ACP) and North African countries, as well as Pan-African issues including relations with the AU and its institutions, the implementation of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy and its Action Plan, and the preparation of Africa-EU Ministerial meetings and Summits. This group, which would work in parallel with the existing Africa Working Group (COAFR) and would build on the experience of the current Ad-Hoc working group, and would enable the EU to – on a permanent basis – examine and discuss EU relations with Africa in a systematic and coherent way. The second (2) option would be to revise the mandate and working modalities of the existing Africa Working Group (COAFR) which would cover Northern Africa, sub-Saharian Africa and pan-African issues. This group could work closely and hold joint sessions with the Maghreb/Mashrek working group. Such a reform would enable the EU to – on a permanent basis – examine and discuss EU relations with Africa in a systematic and coherent way and translate into practice the principle of treating Africa as one as it has been agreed in the joint Africa-EU Strategy.

For each of the eight partnerships, “implementation teams” will be set up and will form the EU component of the future joint African-EU informal experts groups. The EU implementation teams would -as a matter of principle– be open to all committed Member States. The coordination of the group would be in the hands of one or two lead Member States..

With regard to the financial matters, the communication reviews that half of this ODA scaling-up should be allocated to Africa. This means that EU collective ODA for Africa should increase from €19.9 billion in 2005 to €31.3 billion in 2010. As far as the Joint Africa-EU Strategy is concerned, its implementation will be supported by existing financial instruments in accordance with their respective scope and their relevance to the objectives and activities concerned, such as the European Development Fund (EDF), the Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI), the European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument (ENPI), the Instrument for Stability, as well as the Thematic a Communication scheduled in the Commission’s Work Programme for October 2008 as a key contribution to the broader EU annual progress report due by the end of 2008.

The Communication also highlights the possibilities for interaction with Non State Actors on the implementation of joint Strategy, including a mapping of Non State Actors and an invitation for some representatives to attend the bi-annual Ministerial Troikas.
The progress on the implementation of the Joint Strategy and the eight partnerships will be reviewed though take place in Sirte, Libya in 2010 and during the bi-annual Ministerial Troika meetings. The communication provides a table of the allocations of the EU countries in the different partnerships of the Joint Strategy and Action Plan.

AfriMAP, the Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project, have submitted a contribution focusing specifically on the implementation of European governance policies in relation to Africa. The analysis and recommendations in relation to EU policy in this area are based on the experience of AfriMAP, the Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project established by the Open Society Institute’s network of African foundations, in reporting on governance issues in Africa.

The European Commission must therefore grasp the opportunity presented by a review of the governance profile approach that we understand is proposed for 2008 :
- to listen to the views of governance experts from European and African civil society organisations, as well as member states and African governments, and adapt its governance approach accordingly;
- to move away from an approach in the governance profiles that is overly reliant on a quantitative and mechanistic ‘score card’, towards a more qualitative approach that can inform intelligent programming of development assistance.

Download contribution in full - pdf

See contributions by other organisations here.

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During ‘the mini-summit meeting’ of the Ad Hoc Committee of the African Union (AU) in Dakar , consisting of heads of state initiators of NEPAD, it is intended to deepen the reflection on the integration of the NEPAD secretariat in the commission of the AU within 12 month said Monday in Dakar, the Minister Delegate in charge of Maghreb and African Affairs of Algeria, Abdelkader Messahel.

The mini-summit had the task “to initiate, implement and accelerate the implementation of the recommendations of the Algiers summit held in March 2007, but also to discuss the process of integration of the NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development) into the commission of the AU within 12 months, “said Algerian Minister to the press, quoted by the Algerian national radio. Thus, the mini-summit reflects the decision taken at the last AU Summit in Addis on NEPAD and its aim to integrate the New Partnership for Africa’s Development into the AU body. The detailed outcome of the one-day meeting will be presented at the next AU Summit in Egypt in July 2008.

The Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika arrived Monday in Dakar to take part in the mini-summit. Additionally, the president of Nigeria Omaru Yar’Adua, South African President Thabo M’beki, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia have come to the meeting to discuss the implementation process. Launched in 2001, NEPAD works for the strengthening of the fight against poverty and accelerating economic development in Africa. Human development, good political and economic governance, infrastructure, education, health, agriculture, technology, energy, the environment are among the priorities of the NEPAD programmes.