The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has organised a meeting of the ACP and EU economic and social interest groups to discuss about the future of the EU-Africa Strategy. The goal of this meeting was to analyse the implementation of the Cotonou agreement and to follow up the agreements of economic partnership. The meeting has gathered representatives from 78 ACP countries and members from the European civil society as well as members of the European Institutions.
Dimitris Dimitriadis, President of the European Economic and Social Committee, has emphasized on the frist day of the conference that employment creation is essential to all sustainable development strategies in Africa. In his opinion, it is a vast and complex subject linked to issues like the modernisation of the agricultural sector, restructuring and diversifying local industries and the formal sector and strengthen local integration.
Louis Michel has underlined that Africa is his priority and Europe will continue to have a good position because of its geography and its history. On the economic level, Europe is not only the biggest trade partner but it is also the biggest importer of African agricultural products. What has strengthen these links is the consistency and continuity that Europe has had during the last years being far the biggest donor of public goods to Africa. This underlines the strong ties with the African continent.
He also mentioned the topic of Chinese intervention in Africa by emphasizing that he does not regret the involvement of China in Africa. He thinks that this are facts, and this is the current situation. He can’t change it, but for him the intervention and involvement justifies even more the need of a change in the relationship between the EU and Africa that has been put forward by the Joint Africa-EU Strategy.
In addition, he noted the problem of migration. In his point of view, a debate on migration is also a debate on the issue of employment in Africa. The creation of jobs, especially between young people is essential to this partnership. Thus the main message of this partnership is simple: the creation of more jobs to avoid the high influx of migration. European Aid will help to create employment and will offer young people a new perspective in Africa.
Report of the Conference - pdf
Speech by Dantin on Civil Society Involvement – word
Speech by Louis Michel – word
Speech by the President of the EESC – word
All other speeches - html
