This summary of the troika report on the progress should seek to inform on the progress made to date. It informs you about the progression made on the European Union and African side and gives you an insight about the concrete decisions made at the ministerial meeting.
Progress on the EU side
EU Council
A strengthened mandate has been adopted for the Africa Working Group and thus includes the coordination and the implementation of the Joint Africa-Eu Strategy and its Action Plan. In order to manage the agenda, the Africa Working Group has started to meet more frequently and will regularly discuss, including at Africa Directors’ level, policy and strategic issues. In addition, other thematic Council Working Groups and Committees, including the ACP group, the EDF committee, environment experts, and others will contribute to the implementation of the Joint Strategy by mainstreaming it as part of their work.
European Commission
The Communication to the Collège from Commissioners Michel and Ferrero-Waldner entitled “Follow up to the Africa-EU- Lisbon Summit: engaging the Commission in a partnership of results”(1) sets out a series of measures which the Commission has taken in order to play its pivotal role as motor, facilitator and co-initiator of the implementation process (go to key documents to read this document).
Some immediate steps have been taken: stronger role of the RELEX Commissioners Group in providing political guidance and closer association of other Commissioners whose thematic portfolio is involved in the implementation of the Action Plan, as well as greater coherence at Services level, in particular through the strengthening of the Commission’s existing Africa inter-service task force..
A group of Focal Points from all Directorates General concerned has been set up to follow-up and coordinate the implementation of the partnerships and draft Commission inputs into the annual Joint Africa-EU implementation reports. Key EC Delegations in Africa, including in the Maghreb/Mashrek region, will designate contact points to report and follow-up on the implementation of the Joint Strategy.
Delegations should also ensure appropriate liaison with national authorities to promote, in support of and coordination with the outreach exercise of the African Union Commission, the necessary ownership of the Joint Strategy at national level in Africa and in other partner countries. Last, but not least, the Commission proposes to make the agenda of the annual College-to-College meetings between the European and AU Commissions more political and operational. Future meetings will focus on political matters and act as a key building block in the Africa-EU political dialogue. Following the election of a new AU Commission in February 2008, the next such meeting will take place on 1st October in Brussels.
Implementation Teams of the 8 Partnerships
Since April, the Teams have started to work upon initiative of the Troika and under the overall responsibility of the Presidency. The technical implementation and day-to-day coordination has been delegated to the Commission/Council Secretariat in association with one or more Member States. The necessary arrangements have been put in place to receive the required political guidance and to ensure full transparency and coherence, and in particular to share all relevant information from the Teams with the other EU Member States. The Teams have started to draw up the first suggestions for the implementation of the respective Partnerships and Priority Actions.
In this process, the Teams will inter alia establish an overview of ongoing actions, and make first proposals for an indicative implementation roadmap, including early deliverables. They will also address the issue of possible financing sources and mechanisms, as set out under each Priority Action of the Action Plan, and elaborate proposals for the functioning of the future informal Joint Experts Groups agreed in the Action Plan. The Teams will provide the European members of the future informal Joint (African-EU) Experts Group.
The EU Delegation to the AU
The EU Delegation to the AU in Addis plays a major role in supporting the EU’s comprehensive approach to the new strategic partnership with Africa.Additional staff will support the delegation in the progress of the Joint Africa EU Strategy. In addition to its political role in strengthening the relationship between EU and AU institutions, and to enhance coordination with other international and multilateral partners, the EU Delegation also plays a crucial role in providing direct support to the AU, in particular by backing the AU’s institutional development through the programming and implementation of capacity building programs, including the existing 55m Support Programme for the AU and the substantial other initiatives that this Delegation manages in a de-centralized manner.
CSOs
CSOs have strongly expressed their willingness to become actively involved in the Action Plan implementation. An Interim Steering Group for the Joint Africa-EU Strategy has been established that brings together members from a broad array of nonstate sectors and networks. They have identified one contact person per partnership and submitted a detailed proposal on both a methodology for the mapping of existing CSO networks in Europe and Africa, and on their participation in the EU Implementation Teams and the future Joint Experts Groups. The issue of funding their active participation has also been raised and should be addressed. Meetings between Steering Group and the Africa Working Group are foreseen for the near future, as well as with the AU CSO Steering Committee, to discuss how CSOs can best contribute to the implementation and the monitoring of the Action Plan. Major European and African research institutes and think-tanks also created a Europe-Africa Policy Research Network (EARN), with the aim, inter alia, to strengthen cooperation and to provide independent policy analysis and advice on issues relevant to the Joint Strategy and Action Plan.
European Parliament
The ad-hoc delegation of the European Parliament for relations with the Pan- African Parliament and the ad-hoc committee of the Pan-African Parliament for relations with the European Parliament met in Midrand (South Africa) in May and in Brussels in September 2008. Through a joint letter addressed to Commissioners Michel and Joiner, both Parliaments confirmed their willingness to be more actively involved in the implementation and follow-up of the Joint Strategy.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)
It will soon adopt an exploratory opinion on the EU-Africa Strategy, with a specific focus on job creation in Africa, and has expressed the willingness to share it with ECOSOCC, their AU counterpart.
Progress made on the African Side
AU Commission
The Commission of the African Union conducted a series of consultations aimed at building consensus on the way forward. In this regard, two regional consultations of Member States were held. The first, held on 19-20 March 2008 in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), brought together Member States from the Western, Northern and Central Regions of the continent. The second, held in Maseru (Lesotho) on 14-15 April 2008, brought together Member States from the Eastern and Southern Regions of the continent. The EU side participated as observer in these two meetings. The meetings came up with a series of recommendations covering a wide range of issues.
The following has been agreed:
The AU Commission will play the key role of coordinating the implementation process of the Joint Strategy and the first Action Plan as mandated by the AU Executive Council at the Sharm-el-Sheikh Summit. In order to effectively carry out this mandate and inter-departmental Task Force has been formed within the AU Commission: Every department which has an area covered in the Action Plan is represented in the Task Force. The members of this Task Force will also participate in the African Experts Groups. This is to ensure that actions to be implemented within the framework of the eight partnerships of the first Action Plan adequately reflect policies/commitments/decisions taken by the African Union.
African Experts Groups:
Eight such groups are being formed. These will comprise interested African countries, the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and representatives of the AU Commission and specialized institutions. The Experts Groups will conduct an assessment of ongoing projects/programmes as well as existing facilities/tools that can be utilised in the implementation of the various partnerships. They will work together with EU counterparts in the Informal Joint (Africa-EU) Experts Groups to be formed later.
PAP
The PAP expressed its intention to support the AUC at the level of national parliaments, particularly regarding issues that require action by national executives. The PAP undertook to work closely with the Executive, where necessary, to ensure action on matters relating to the implementation of the Action Plan as well as play an active part in informing African populations regarding developments in the implementation of the Action Plan.
RECs
The Regional Economic Communities (RECs) will be fully involved in the monitoring and implementation process of the eight partnerships. Therefore the AU Commission will ensure that the eight RECs recognised by the African Union2 are engaged with a view to discussing their possible roles in the process. For example, at the last RECs Coordination Meeting held in Sharm-el-Sheikh (Egypt) on 28 June 2008, the RECs agreed that they be fully involved in the implementation process of the partnerships.
The AU Permanent Representation in Brussels
The AU Permanent Representation in Brussels will continue to be actively involved in the monitoring and implementation process. The Office will play a key role in enhancing communication between the African Union and the European Union. It has been assigned to include the follow up processes as part of its mandate and the AU Permanent Representative in Brussels is fully engaged. Hence, the requisite effort is being exerted with a view to enhancing the Mission’s capacity to enable it better fulfil this very important role.
Civil Society
African civil society will work closely with the European civil society in the implementation process. It has been agreed that the Steering Committee set up during the Accra civil society consultation be revitalised to work closely with CIDO, particularly on issues such as mapping. Other stakeholders such as ECOSOCC, research institutes and think-tanks will also play a role.
African Member States
A number of African Member States have expressed interest in the various partnerships or pledging experts for participation in the African Working Group.
Joint website
Regarding the communication of the Joint Strategy, the Commission of the African Union and the EU Commission have started to develop a joint AU-EU website on the Africa-EU Strategic Partnership to disseminate information, documents and events updates, and have launched the first media outreach activities and other communication tools. In the same vein, the AUC and the EC jointly organised a high level Forum on the theme “Media and Development”. This event, which aimed at highlighting the importance of the media for sustainable development, took place from the 11th to 13th September 2008, in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso).
RECOMMENDATIONS
Senior officials are asked to
