ECDPM report of the discussions at the Development Committee of the European Parliament on 10 September.
Maria Maertens, rapporteur for this topic, presented the draft report saying that many of the concerns raised by the European Parliament in 2005 still applied. What is needed is a long term vision on the EU-Africa Partnership and she asked for more information on the foreseen action plan, which should address priorities in the short term, as well as on how the Strategy would be implemented, notably on the financial side and who would contribute. She also stressed that Parliaments should be more strongly associated, starting with the Pan African Parliament and the European Parliament.
Commissioner Michel underlined that time had passed since the first EU-Africa Summit in Cairo in 2000 and some important changes had taken place since then, not the least of them being the rising presence of third powers like China in Africa. He stressed it was thus important for EU to form a global and political alliance with Africa and have a common Strategy. Acknowledging the importance of the role of Parliaments in linking the Strategy to civil society and people, Michel was very positive to the fact that the Europan Parliament and the Pan-African Parliament would make a joint declaration on the Strategy to be presented at the Summit.
A number of MEPs commented on Maertens and Michel’s interventions asking for more coherence among the various policy areas and asking for more information on the five partnerships mentioned in the EC Communication of June 2007 and whether these were also African priorities. According to some, the “treat Africa as one” principle should be addressed in practice, for instance in the trade area. Indeed EPAs would probably dominate the Summit and it is important to encourage dialogue between Northern Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and the EU to make sure the various trade agreements between the EU and the various African regions serve as building blocks of the African continental integration.
The issue of Zimbabwe was also raised, some MEPs wondering if inviting Mugabe would be consistent with the EU human rights approach. Finally the question of the added value of the joint Strategy compared to the existing agreements was raised. Michel answered that EPAs were indeed an important topic and that although her shared the European Parliament’s concerns on Mugabe, the EU-Africa Summit could no longer be delayed.
Download the draft report – pdf
Read more about previous discussions.
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