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The Lisbon Summit is a start, time for implementation: ECDPM work on EU-Africa relations in 2008

The preparation of the second Africa-EU Summit and of a joint EU-Africa Strategy now came to an end and so did our job in accompanying/moderating the public consultation on that topic. However, Africa-EU relations and support to African actors are a fundamental component of our work and ECDPM intends to closely follow the implementation of the Africa-EU joint Strategy, notably by contributing to facilitate the dialogue on how to operationalise the commitments contained in the joint Strategy, analyse the coherence between the commitments contained in the Strategy/Action Plan and the existing implementing tools as well as by providing regular information and analysis on the various dimensions of the Action Plan. More details on our work programme on this issue will be provided at the beginning of 2008.

One of our first activities on these topics in 2008 will be to carry out an analysis of African CSPs/RSPs to see how they match the priorities of the eight partnerships in the Action Plan. Another activity will be to restructure the europafrica website in order to provide relevant information and resources on the operationalisation of the Action Plan and its eight partnerships. A newsletter will replace both the europafrica bulletin and the EU-Africa e-alert and will provide regular analysis on this topic.

Do not hesitate to contact Marie-Laure de Bergh (mdb@ecdpm.org) for more information

The Portuguese presidency of the EU has published further material from the summit, including speeches made by several Heads of State. They have also posted information about the four civil society side events that were given the opportunity to make presentations at the summit.

The South African newspaper Mail & Guardian has published an article summarising how Zimbabwean media reported on the event.

The thirteenth issue of the Europafrica bulletin gives you an up-date on the public consultation for a joint EU-Africa Strategy.

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BBC has collected reports about the Summit from especially African media, including an article in the Rwanda Times stating: “One most positive element that has come from the meeting is the frank, open way issues are being discussed. No domineering, upper-lip aloofness from the former colonial masters and no encumbered exchanges from the former colonies, in what has been dubbed ‘a summit of equals’.”

The latest edition of the European Security and Defence Policy newsletter focuses on the Africa. It analyses the EU-Africa Strategy from a Security perspective and also includes information on EU support to conflict prevention, peace-support operations, peace-building policies and related capacity-building in Africa. The director of the EU Institute for Security Studies, Alvaro de Vasconcelos, writes in one article that: “After many years in which the emphasis was on development aid and, to some extent, good governance, the over-riding message today is clearly that without security human development is not sustainable.”

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