ECDPM aims to share information on the EU-Africa Strategy negotiations, 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 ninth issue of the Europafrica bulletin (click here for the previous issues), which will give you an up-date on the public consultation for a joint EU-Africa Strategy. The bulletin is issued 1-2 times per month. Subscribe by sending an e-mail to: europafrica@ecdpm.org
News
Preparations of the Lisbon Summit
A section on the europafrica website provides links to recent news and views on the upcoming EU-Africa Summit. The Portuguese Presidency of the EU has also set up a webpage listing their related press releases.
The controversial issue as to whether the President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, should attend the Summit is still under discussion. The Portuguese presidency of the EU who will be hosting the Summit, have still not sent out any official invitations, but are of the opinion that the process should not be blocked by one country. In the context of the EU-Africa Ministerial Troika at the end of October a Portuguese official told Reuters that “Invitations will be sent to all leaders of the African Union.”
The views on the issue vary among African and European leaders, with some African leaders threatening to boycott the summit if Mugabe is not invited, and some European leaders planning to do likewise if he will attend. Read more.
The official negotiations
Ministerial Troika endorses Strategy
The 9th Africa-EU Troika Ministerial Meeting on 31 October in Accra, Ghana, endorsed a communiqué for a Joint Strategy and Action Plan for consideration and adoption by Heads of States and Governments for the Lisbon Summit in December.
The endorsed Strategy and Action Plan should be made available shortly. A short Press release has been published on the Portuguese Presidency website. More information is available here.
The public consultation
African civil society consultation
The African Union Commission organised an African civil society consultation in Accra on 19-21 October 2007. About 40 CSO representatives and experts were gathered and made comments on the four clusters of the joint Strategy. Recommendations were made on the content of the Strategy. Civil society representatives also made some concrete proposals regarding their involvement in the monitoring of the Strategy. The AUC ensured that it would put forward some of the recommendations made during the expert meeting taking place the following week in Accra in preparation of the joint EU-Africa Ministerial Troika. Read more.
Pan African and European Parliaments to present a joint Declaration to the EU-Africa Summit
Parliamentarians representing the Pan African and European Parliaments met on 20 October in Midrand, South Africa discussing the EU-Africa Summit. A twenty-five Member strong delegation of MEPs will hold a pre-summit meeting with an equal number of Pan-African Parliamentarians in Lisbon where a joint declaration by both Parliaments is likely to be adopted, which will then be presented to the Heads of State and Government at the Summit. Some representatives of the EP and PAP should present this joint Declaration at a side event of the European Development Days co-organised by the two Parliaments on 8 November 2007. Read more on the PAP website.
EP report on the joint EU-Africa Strategy
The European Parliament has finalised its report on the state of play of EU-Africa relations. It was approved in plenary on the 22-25 October.
The report generally welcomes the principles of the EU-Africa partnership highlighted in the Strategy. However, the EP deplores that the timeframe did not allow for a more in-depth implication of the AU institutions, civil society and local governments and wishes for Parliaments, civil society and local government to be more structurally involved in the future. Among others the EP asks the European Commission and Council to further base their interventions on African requests and strategic plan and concretely start treating Africa as one, especially by creating a pan-African financial instrument. The EP makes recommendations on the shared vision as well on each of the four priority areas: peace and security; governance, democracy and human rights; trade and regional integration and key development issues.
Download the report – doc
Read about the debates in the committee of development.
Brainstorming on the ‘people to people partnership’
A brainstorming was organised on Wednesday 17 October by the Portuguese Presidency, the European Commission and the Council Secretariat with Brussels based Non State Actors that have been following the joint EU-Africa Strategy process on how to materialise the people to people partnership approach. Some of the key points made on how to develop an operational people-centred partnership include:
- There needs to be a clear policy space and will to take CS input onboard
- For effective monitoring there needs to be a possibility to hold officials and governments responsible
- Measurable objectives were asked for in the Action Plan
Read more
Europe-Africa Trade Union Summit
A Trade Union Summit was held on 26-27 October in Lisbon, Portugal, addressing the relationships between Europe and Africa, bringing together more than 60 trade union leaders from Africa and Europe ahead of a European Union – African Union Summit. A final political Declaration will be adopted by the Trade Union Summit in which concrete demands to the EU and the AU will be formulated. The Declaration will include proposals that social dialogue be given a central place in the EU-Africa Strategy as it is a key mechanism of democratic governance. Read more.
Meeting by the All Africa Conference of Churches and the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa
A meeting co-organized by the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) and the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa (SECAM) will be held in Accra, Ghana, on 12 and 13 November. Around 50 representatives from African churches and church-related organizations are invited to discuss their vision about EU-Africa relations on the basis of the report of a broad consultation that took place in the last three months. Read more.
Launch of ‘African Voices’ publication
On Monday 15 October 150 civil society representatives, government officials and negotiators of the new strategy attended a panel debate marking the UK launch of BOND’s African Voices publication. The aim of the project was to draw attention to the African civil society opinions in the process leading to the approval of a joint EU-Africa Strategy at the Lisbon Summit. Read more.
European Development Days
The European Development Days are now taking place (7-8 November) in Lisbon on climate change. Several events relate to the EU-Africa Summit and the joint EU-Africa Strategy. To see the programme, please click here.
Civil society position papers
Additional points from the public consultation on the joint EU-Africa strategy
We have received 15 position papers since the end of May. This document provides a summary of the main ideas presented in order to feed into the official negotiations before the joint ministerial troika meeting on 31 October. Some points made in the first phase of the consultation, up until May, have been stressed further, and new ones have been made.
Download the summary report – doc
Download the report made in May – doc
Related events
In October/November several regional youth consultations will take place in Africa. See the website of the North-South Centre for more details.
31/10: Joint Ministerial Troika Meeting (Accra, Ghana)
7-9/11: European Development Days (Lisbon)
7/11: ‘Strengthening Euro-African Partnerships – The Role of Parliaments’: meeting of Parliamentarians from Europe and Africa (AWEPA and the North-South Centre; Lisbon, Portugal)
8/11: Council ad hoc working group
8/11: ‘From Cairo to Lisbon: Open Forum on the joint EU-Africa Strategy’ – Joint hearing of the Development Committee of the European parliament and the Pan-African Parliament – Presentation of the PAP-EP joint declaration
12-13/11: Meeting co-organised by the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) and the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa (SECAM) to discuss their vision about EU-Africa relations in Accra, Ghana
15-17/11: Civil Society Forum on Euro-African Dialogue (Lisbon)
15-17/11: Euro-African Parliamentarian Forum organised by the North South Centre (Lisbon)
19/11: General Affairs and External Relations Council
29/11: International Conference: ‘On the eve of the EU-Africa-Summit – Creating a true and equal partnership?’ (WEED and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Berlin)
4-7/12: EU-Africa Youth Summit (Lisbon)
8-9/12: EU-Africa Summit of Heads of States and Governments (Lisbon)
Please let us know of any events that you are planning, so we can put them in the calendar.
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