A public consultation was launched by the African Union Commission and the European Commission at the beginning of February in order to gather civil society recommendations on the joint EU-Africa Strategy to be approved at the planned second EU-Africa Summit in December 2007. The consultation moved to a second phase with the approval of an outline of the future joint Strategy on 15 May by the joint EU-Africa Ministerial Troika Meeting.
In the second phase, ECDPM will focus on sharing information on the official negotiations, on related events and positions of civil society representatives as well as provide some analysis on the progress of the negotiations. The website will thus be more geared towards information sharing than towards moderating on-line discussions as was the case with the Internet consultation until May 2007. Contributions and position papers will be published, and shared with the officials and all interested actors. Please continue to send us documents and information that you would like to share: europafrica@ecdpm.org
This is the sixth 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. This edition focuses especially on what opportunities lie ahead for influencing the official negotiators and how the website has been redesigned to better serve the purpose of the second phase of consultation.
We will continue to share information through the bulletin. Subscribe by sending an e-mail to: europafrica@ecdpm.org
News
EC and EU Council presidents attend AU Summit
In preparation for the EU-Africa Summit the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and the President of the European Union Council, José Sócrates, attended the African Union’s Summit in Ghana on 3 July. Read more.
The Executive Council of the AU endorses Strategy outline
The Executive Council, which comprises Ministers of Foreign Affairs of AU Member States, met in Accra 28-29 June. The Ministers adopted the Outline for the Joint Africa-EU Strategy as a basis for the elaboration of a fully-fledged Joint Strategy and Action Plan to be adopted at the December, 2007 Lisbon Africa-Europe Summit. They also urged all African Countries and the AU Organs to fully participate in the Summit while requesting that the agenda of the Lisbon Summit takes into account Africa’s development needs including agriculture and food security. Read more.
Publication of an EC Communication and a joint EC-Council Secretariat paper on the EU-Africa partnership
The European Commission adopted a Communication on 27 June proposing five joint EU-Africa policy initiatives to be discussed and launched at the Lisbon summit in the following topics: Energy; Climate Change; Migration, Mobility and Employment; Democratic Governance; EU-Africa political and institutional architecture. Read the commission press release here.
Download the communication – pdf
The European Commission and the Council Secretariat have also published a joint paper on 27 June providing an overview of the evolving context of the EU-Africa relationship and explaining the key features of the outline of the Strategy adopted on 15 May.
Both documents will be the basis for the EU decision making process along with the outline (see calendar).
Download the Joint paper – pdf
Pre-AU Summit Civil Society Forum
A pre-Summit Civil Society Forum was held in Accra, Ghana, on 19-21 June. It included a discussion on the way forward on the Joint EU-Africa Strategy as well as a presentation of the public consultations so far.
The official negotiations
First expert meeting of second phase
The negotiating officials met in Addis Ababa, 12-13 June to discuss the road to the Lisbon summit. Several meetings are scheduled in order to work on the strategy outline, draft an Action Plan as well as a Lisbon Declaration. The main negotiations will take place before the next Joint Ministerial Troika Meeting, which will take place in Accra, Ghana, on 31 October. The next meeting will take place on 19-20 July, in Brussels. For details of the other dates, please see the calendar. For information on which officials participate in the negotiations, see here.
Lisbon Summit
In his speech at the AU Summit, the Portuguese Prime Minister, José Sócrates announced that the EU-Africa Summit will take place in Lisbon on 8-9 December. The African Union welcomed this invitation and urged all African countries and AU organs to take part to the Summit (Executive Council declaration – pdf). The invitation by Sócrates has provoked reactions both from Africans and Europeans, see two examples:
- ‘Zimbabwe’s Opposition Unhappy About Mugabe’s Invitation’
- ‘Mugabe invited to Lisbon summit despite EU ban’ (European MEPs critical)
Read the full speech by Sócrates here.
Read more about Mugabe attending the Lisbon Summit here.
The public consultation
New europafrica website
The website has been redesigned, to better suit the needs for the second phase of the consultation, leading up until the planned EU-Africa Summit in Lisbon in December. The main change is that the thematic pages have been replaced by more informative pages:
- Official negotiations presents the news about the negotiation process as well as the decisions taken so far.
- Public consultation provides information about how the consultation will continue in the second phase, and what opportunities there are to influence to official negotiations. It also includes questions and answers on the first phase.
- Civil society positions links to position papers and extensive comments submitted to the public consultation by organisations.
- Lisbon summit provides news and information about the Lisbon summit, which is planned to take place in December, and when the Joint Strategy should be approved.
Read more about the new website.
We will continue to publish contributions and related articles on the website. Please send any papers or information on events you would like to share to: europafrica@ecdpm.org
What are the opportunities to influence the process?
There are several ways in which you can try to influence the official negotiations. This includes participating in events, circulating position papers and lobbying officials and parliamentarians in your country as well as the expert teams participating in the negotiations. For further information, click here. For information on the EU and AU decision making process, click here.
Position papers
- Connections for Development (CfD) has submitted a contribution with recommendations to the EU, the AU and the EU African Diaspora respectively. Read more.
Related events
15-17/8: African regional civil society consultation in Lusaka, organised by ActionAid International and MWENGO (tbc)
22-25/10: Adoption of the European Parliament resolution on the joint Strategy in EP plenary.
29-31/10: Civil Society Forum on Euro-African Dialogue (Lisbon)
31/10: Joint Ministerial Troika Meeting (Accra, Ghana).
7-9/11: EC Development Days (Lisbon)
30/11: Meeting between members of Pan African Parliament and European Parliament in Lisbon. The meeting should result in a joint declaration that will be presented by the two Presidents to the Heads of State at the Lisbon Summit (tbc).
Beginning of December: EU-Africa Youth Summit (Lisbon)
8-9/12: EU-Africa Summit of Heads of States and Governments (Lisbon) (to be confirmed)
Please let us know of any events that you are planning, so we can put them in the calendar.
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