Aid for trade, a key priority of the EU in Africa

Source: EU News, Issue 3, April 2009

At several occasions, EC high officials and Commissioner Michel have emphasised the necessity to support ‘connectivity’ at regional and pan-African level and the added value of EC cooperation in that area. Recent EU-Africa debates and agreements confirm that approach that is also well illustrated in the recently published Aid for Trade monitoring report 2009.

The report provides many data showing that the EU (EC + Member States) is the largest global provider of grants in the Aid for Trade area and that Africa is the main recipient with 43,9% of total EU aid for trade in 2005-2007.
It is important to note that the definition of Aid for Trade used in the report is quite broad and includes both Trade Related Assistance (€ 1.98 million in 2007 from EU) as well as productive capacity building, trade related infrastructures and trade related adjustment as well as ‘other trade related needs’ not classified by the OECD. General budget support and non-earmarked support to multilateral organisations are not included in the calculations. With such a definition it is not surprising that total EU commitments for Aid for Trade reached € 7.17 billion in 2007 (4.74 from Member States and 2.43 from the EC) representing 10.45% of total EU ODA.

Support to regional integration captures an increasing share of the Aid for Trade (AfT) funding and the preparation of regional aid for trade packages for the ACP countries, to be supported jointly by the EC (EDF) and the Member States, is top of the EC agenda for 2009. The signing of the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) Regional Indicative Programmes in November 2008 is seen as a milestone in that process.

The North-South Corridor pilot AfT project to improve infrastructure and remove regulatory barriers between three Regional Economic Communities of Africa (the Common Market for Eastern and Southern African (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC)) perfectly illustrates this approach. The goal is to improve regional trade and give countries faster access to international markets, thereby boosting growth and jobs. The €115 million contribution from the EC consists mainly of funding from the 10th EDF.

The package of measures proposed by the EC in its 8 April communication on supporting developing countries in coping with the crisis also includes the recommendation to increase by 2010 to €500 million the grant inlay in the EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund. The Commission, for its part, will allocate €200 million for 2009-2010 (from 10th EDF), doubling its current inlay, and calls on Member States to join this effort in order to raise €500 million. Achieving this target would leverage €2.5 billion in soft loans to support infrastructure. In the area of agriculture, the Commission insists in particular on the necessity to invest in agricultural corridors and to align investments in support of linking markets and production areas.
Whether Member States will inject such a level of fresh money into the Trust Fund is questionable considering their low contribution so far (around 28 million from 11 Member States by October 2008).

Another example of the EC support for a trade and export oriented economy in Africa is the "Better Training for Safer Food in Africa – BTSF-Africa” initiative launched by EU Health Commissioner, Androulla Vassiliou at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa. This is a 10 million specific programme targeted at Africa, with the view to promoting compliance with international Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) measures as key to bilateral trade, both within Africa and with the rest of the world, and to increasing food safety for citizens.

Finally, it is also interesting to note a new agreement between the European Commission and the African Union Commission on the principle of a common strategic framework to develop safer and more sustainable air transport in Africa. It includes supporting the Yamoussoukro Decision aiming at creating a single airspace in Africa with one provisions being the principle of free market access of (eligible) air carriers for intra-African connections. The EC will support the development and evolution of the Executing Agency for implementing the Decision and assist in the definition of the appropriate regulatory environment and market access. In other words this agreement is the best way to open the internal African aviation market to European carriers.

Supporting trade and an export oriented economy in the ACP states with EU development policy and budget is clearly a top priority of the EU but to what extend are trade policies and agreements under negotiation actually supporting development objectives? Take the recent proposal made by the EC to reduce the current banana tariff of 176 Euros/ton to most favoured nations (of Latin America) to 136 Euros/ton by 2011. Effectively, this means favouring large plantations in Latin America with low environment standards and exploitative and dangerous labour conditions at the expenses of small banana producers in ACP countries. Such a policy is clearly at odds with the EU principle of policy coherence for development. Not surprisingly, the ACP group, in a recent press release strongly criticises the EC proposal. The substantial tariff cuts would have dire consequences for ACP export trade, for which the current preferences are of vital importance. The sharp reductions proposed between 2009 and 2011 cannot be reconciled with any of the EU commitments towards ACP Countries, specifically the recently signed Cariforum-EC Economic Partnership Agreement which provides that tariff reductions should not only be "unavoidable" but "should be phased in over as long a period as possible". … Bananas for ACP countries are not only about trade, but about development. Bananas have a direct impact on environment, migration and integration in ACP countries. Now that the world is suffering from a global financial crisis, ACP countries cannot afford to sacrifice their few sources of hard currency on the altar of free trade.
Note that this concern is also highlighted in the resolution adopted at the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly session in Prague on Economic partnership Agreements and their impact on ACP states.

The impact of Economic Partnership Agreements on development in the ACP countries is indeed a major concern for many ACP officials and civil society actors following the unfinished EPA negotiations. This critical policy coherence issue was at the core of the workshop organised on 24 March by One World Action, APRODEV and the Commonwealth Secretariat on EPAs: Trade efficiency or development for all? Gender analysis of trade liberalisation and its impact.

The Roundtable provided a forum to appreciate the relevance of systematic gender analysis to inform negotiation positions and to provide nuanced understanding of the gender impact on distributional effect. Integrating principles of responsive governance into trade policy-making and trade negotiations is needed, as well as effective EPA monitoring to enhance positive EPA impact and minimise potential harm. Suitable indicators, including gender indicators, to chart progress on implementation and impacts of EPAs are key tools in putting into practice the development and poverty reduction ambitions of EPAs.

From that point of view, organisers particularly appreciated the fact that certain recommendations from the APRODEV background paper on EPA indicators were reflected in the resolution of the European Parliament on the Cariforum EPA, as following:

Suitable development indicators should serve three key purposes:
1. to trigger implementation of EPA commitments by Cariforum States or to qualify them for exemptions;
2. to monitor the impact of EPA implementation on sustainable development and poverty reduction;
3. to monitor the implementation of EC commitments, in particular disbursement and effective delivery of pledged financial and technical assistance

The report of the workshop will be available shortly; in the meantime, you can view the available presentations, the background paper on indicators and the concept note here.

See also Euforic's newsfeeds on Aid for Trade and ACP trade, and the Brussels Development Briefing on Aid for Trade

ECDPM reviews progress of the Joint Africa- Europe Strategy

Africa remained high on the agenda of the international community in 2008. While India and China continued their involvement with African countries, also other global players like Russia, the USA, Turkey or Japan showed their increased or renewed commitment. Here, issues of energy security and climate change were increasingly important. On the other hand global crises like the financial and economic breakdown and the food crisis had negative effects on the development of the African continent.

In December 2007 a Joint Africa-Europe Strategy and its associated Action Plan were adopted. With its partnership approach, the holistic perspective on Africa, its 8 Thematic Partnerships and the envisioned strong role for civil society and parliaments, the Strategy distinguishes itself from previous initiatives in Euro-African relations.

One year after the adoption of the Joint Strategy, an ECDPM paper takes stock of the progress made in 2008 and reflects on its ambitious goals. It shows that progress was mainly made in the area of the institutional architecture. The paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the involvement of the relevant actors on both EU and African sides with detailed insights into internal working procedures and coordination processes.

European actors: Looking at the European side the authors are concerned about the low commitment of new EU member states. While the old member states are traditionally involved in EU-Africa relations and assumed leading positions in the 8 Thematic Partnerships, new members have stronger linkages with East and Central European and Central Asian countries. Since they can bring in new valuable perspectives it is essential that they find their place in the EU-Africa Partnership.

Although increased coordination efforts can be noted within the European Commission and the Council, the authors still see the danger of overlap with other EU programs including the European Mediterranean Policy and the ACP-EU cooperation.

The authors mention the establishment of the EU Delegation to the African Union and the strengthened role of the EU Special Representative to the AU as remarkable in the institutional development of the Africa-EU Strategy. Through their geographic proximity to the African Union in Addis Ababa they give the EU the opportunity to follow the AU's development closely.

African actors: Regarding the African side the paper warns that the strong coordinating role of the AU Commission is not met with appropriate financial and human resources. The authors are worried that the EU might overestimate the actual power of the African Union Commission which is by far not a mirror institution of the EU Commission, having less legal competences and a weaker position in the current AU institutional framework.

Furthermore they speak of a very low awareness and commitment regarding the Joint Strategy in all AU member states and the African Regional Communities. Similar to the EU there is a difference in participation between the AU member states with a stronger commitment of the North-African countries, currently assuming all but one of the leading positions in the 8 Thematic Partnerships. The lacking commitment of Southern African countries might hamper the 'Africa as one' objective of the Joint Strategy.

Civil society and parliaments: Regarding the envisioned involvement of other stakeholders, in particular parliaments and civil society organizations, the paper draws a rather gloomy picture. Both stakeholders are so far sidelined by the institutional actors in the EU and the AU alike. The modalities and level of their involvement differ in every Thematic Partnership but are generally not clear. Furthermore adequate funding to ensure full participation of CSOs is lacking.

Issues for 2009: Looking ahead, several aspects need to be addressed:

• increase the financial commitment towards the Joint Strategy in Europe and Africa
• ensure coherence with other policy frameworks, mainly the European Mediterranean Policy and ACP-EU cooperation
  
• deal with capacity and legal asymmetries between the European and African stakeholders
• deal with the past of the European and African integration process (i.e. ongoing African Government Debate and the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty)
• extend ownership of the Strategy beyond the Brussels-Addis axis
• ensure participation of CSOs and parliaments.
  

The authors highlight that the full commitment of all EU and AU member states is crucial for the success of the Joint Strategy. However, they note that member states on both sides tend to wait with further involvement until the Strategy delivers results and shows added-value compared to existing policy frameworks. On the other side the authors predict that such progress can only be made if all stakeholders including the member states are on board. Strong leadership and commitment are essential in order to escape this 'chicken or egg' conundrum.

by Martin Behrens

Visit the ECDPM Europafrica.org for more information and documents regarding the Africa-EU Strategy

See also the Euforic newsfeed and dossier on EU-Africa relations

CONCORD meets the Africa Working Group of the EU Council

Source: Concord Flash, nr. 56, November/December 2008

The French presidency invited CONCORD and other civil society organisations (CSO) to a dialogue session with the Africa Working Group (COAFR) of the Council of the European Union in November, on the state of play of the implementation of the Strategy and the involvement of CSO. This meeting was a follow-up to a previous meeting with the French Presidency to discuss the modalities of involvement of CSO in the implementation of the Strategy. Concrete proposals worked out by CONCORD and other organisations were presented at that meeting.

In November, CSO presentations focused on the pending issue of the participation of the civil society in the Strategy process and in the Joint Experts Groups (JEGs) in particular. The JEGs have a particular responsibility in ensuring the implementation of the 8 Partnerships of the Strategy. They are made up of European and African Union (AU) Member States and institution
representatives.

The main outcomes of the meeting were that there would be better and more timely information available for CSOs on the participants in the JEGs and the CSO would also communicate to the institutions the focal points for each JEG.

For further information: Romain Philippe- ActionAid (romain.philippe@actionaid.org)

See also Euforic's newsfeeds on EU cooperation, and on Concord

Africa-Europe Partnership portal becomes interactive

The official website of the Africa- Europe Partnership, lunched earlier this year, is becoming more interactive. The portal aims to document the progress of the EU-Africa cooperation and strives to bring civil society organizations, experts and decision-makers together in order to create a forum for debate about the future of the strategic partnership.

Comments are invited on a blog from the partnership - the current posting is about the involvement of civil society actors in the implementation process of the partnership.

See also Euforic's Europe-Africa newsfeed and dossier ; also the europafrica portal hosted by ECDPM.

EU’s “Blue Card” rubs salt into wound of hurting nations

Source: Concord Flash, nr. 55, October 2008

Ways must be found to turn the global movement of labour into a win-win situation. The European Union’s plans to develop a “Blue Card” to attract highly qualified migrants to meet its labour needs raises several urgent questions, particularly for African governments grappling with critical shortages of health workers.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says Africa has already lost one-third of its human capital and continues to lose skilled personnel at an increasing rate, with an estimated 20,000 doctors, university lecturers, engineers and other professionals leaving the continent annually since 1990. The IOM estimates that there are currently 300,000 highly qualified Africans in the diaspora, yet at the same time Africa spends US$4 billion annually to employ some 100,000 western experts.

The effects of this brain drain are felt directly in key sectors of African economies, particularly education and health. Ten years ago there were 1,600 doctors in Zambia; only 400 are left now. In Kenya, 90 per cent of the medical personnel migrate to Europe and the USA every year. There are more Ethiopian-trained doctors practising in the city of Chicago alone than in the whole of Ethiopia, and more Malawian-trained doctors practising in Manchester than in Malawi.

Largely as a result of this massive haemorrhage of personnel, Africa has only three per cent of the global health workforce, despite bearing 25 per cent of the world’s diseases. The health workforce is undoubtedly the driver of health systems. Migration of this precious resource from Africa has resulted in severely weakened health systems that can barely provide services, let alone pursue the aspirations of the Millennium Development Goals.

The proposed Blue Card of the European Union (EU), a special residence permit to be granted to immigrants, is bound merely to aggravate the situation, legitimising the movement of labour to Europe at the expense of low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa. An exodus of health professionals will create an even greater global imbalance, with host countries creating reservoirs of health care professionals to replenish their aging and diminishing workforce while African countries have to put increasing pressure on health systems that are already stretched to breaking point. Ultimately, the further depletion of Africa’s intellectual property will reverse gains made in eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and fighting against HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

The European Union must consider the moral and ethical implications of its proposal before introducing the Blue Card. My gut reaction would be to ask the EU to have an exclusion clause for health professionals. But free movement is a human right, and African health professionals will move to Europe anyway, with or without the Blue Card. Moreover, we cannot
ignore globalisation, and there is a need for African health professionals to contribute to alleviating the global burden of disease while enjoying the fruits of their hard work. We must therefore look for ways to turn the global movement of labour into a win-win situation for both Africa and Europe.

The challenges of stemming the brain drain are daunting, but certainly not insurmountable. They require, however, a collaborative effort by African governments and the western governments and institutions that recruit from Africa. To contain the health workers still on the continent and attract others from the diaspora, African governments must vigorously address the “push” factors that lead to migration. They must provide qualified health professionals with employment, competitive salaries and incentives – such as good housing, opportunities for professional and career development, and health facilities equipped with the basic requirements.

Europe too must be proactive in ensuring that African health systems are not robbed of valuable human resources without receiving compensation or restitution. Support could be extended to programmes that train health workers specifically for the African context, such as the African Medical and Research Foundation’s Diploma in Community Health course, and the
innovative eLearning Programme that trains nurses virtually, allowing them to learn and work at the same time.

If Europe must recruit from Africa, it should invest in building the capacity of training institutions to enable Africa to train enough health workers for itself and to meet Europe’s needs. With expanded physical and fiscal space, the EU could contract individual African countries to produce health workers for them.

Ultimately, both the EU and African governments must implement policies that address health workforce densities, the weakened African health systems and resultant inequities, and the burden of global diseases.

Dr Peter Ngatia is the Director for Capacity Building at the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF).

This article was also published in Kenya’s Daily Nation on 9 July 2008.

See also Euforic's newsfeeds on migration, health, and Concord

News and resources on the Africa-EU strategy

The website europafrica.org, hosted by the European Center for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), originally designed to channel the public consultation process on the EU-Africa Partnership Agreement, is now becoming a platform for news and resources on the Joint Africa-EU Strategy.

New features include:

The Joint Africa-EU Strategy: everything about the Joint Africa-EU Strategy, its public consultation in 2007 and its implementation process.

EU-Africa dialogue: more about the history of the relationship, the frequency and level of the meetings, the actors that play a role in the dialogue, the ENP - as a part of EU-Africa Strategy and the Summits between Africa and EU.

Civil Society: about the involvement of the civil society organisations during the public consultation of the Joint Strategy and their contribution in the implementation process since January 2008.

EARN: a network of African and European Policy Research Institutes aiming to contribute to the EU-Africa Policy Dialogue.

Key Documents: updated documents on and related to the Joint Africa- EU Strategy and EU-Africa in general.

Europafrica.org Bulletin: Bulletin that provides an up-date on the implementation and monitoring process of the Joint EU-Africa Strategy.

Join hundred of other subscribers to the europafrica newsfeed (en français)

See a newsfeed from ECDPM.

See also Euforic's dossier or subscribe to our newsfeed on EU-Africa relations

Perspectives and Strategies of the European Union's Africa Policy after the Lisbon Summit

The June 2008 issue of ‘Foreign Policy in Dialogue’ a quarterly newsletter on German and European foreign policy published by the University of Trier looks at ‘Perspectives and Strategies of the European Union’s Africa Policy after the Lisbon Summit’. The volume assesses the perspectives, strategies and motives of the common EU policy towards Africa. (download pdf file)

Siegmar Schmidt (University Koblenz-Landau) looks at the chances for a successful implementation of the EU-Africa Partnership Agreement. He concludes that the new agreement including its First Action Plan (2008-2010) is a breakthrough in terms of commitment and depth. Nonetheless he warns that assumptions regarding the institutional capacity of the African Union, seen as major partner in the agreement, might be built on sand.

“African politics are highly personalized, trust in institutions is exceptional. But the EU-Africa partnership requires effective or at least working administrative structures which are inexistent in many states.”

According to the author, only massive EU capacity building support and the avoidance of over ambitious goals might avoid failure.

Siegfried Schieder (Trier University) questions the partnership approach entailed in the new relationship. Assessing the EU-ACP relationship of the last decades, characterized by trade and development cooperation, he shows clear imbalances between the two sides. However, the author concludes that new political element,s including peace and security or migration, within the relationship might lead towards a real partnership:

“[the EU-Africa Partnership] offers the opportunity to reduce asymmetries between Europe and Africa even while trade and development cooperation remains stuck in traditional patterns. A definition of the partnership beyond symbolism and without the patina of development would in itself be a success for both the EU and Africa.”

Tom Gawaya Tegulle (Columnist with The Daily Monitor, Uganda) calls for a revision of the paradigm of common values between the EU and Africa. He is convinced that old African leaders will only comply with European standards regarding human rights or good governance out of self-interest and not out of personal conviction or to serve their electorate.

“… much of what Europe would like to see in Africa will only come when nature or constructive societal evolution has phased out the current breed of Africa’s leaders who are more interested in self-preservation and their ego than in the service to their country and subservience to the social cause.”

Other contributions to the issue deal with the role of political foundations within the EU-Africa Partnership or the cooperation within the area of peace and security.

by Martin Behrens

See Euforic's dossier or subscribe to our newsfeed on EU-Africa Relations

EU-Africa: what role for civil society?

Source: EU News no. 2, March 2008

The participation of civil society was the subject of a one-day seminar on 10 March where European civil society organisations who have been active in the drafting phase of the strategy were invited to exchange views and present suggestions on the best way to involve civil society actors in the institutional architecture of the strategy.

Issues discussed included the principles and modalities of the mapping of civil society actors and the place of CS actors in the institutional architecture and dialogue mechanisms. Suggestions were made at the meeting but need to be further developed and refined taking into account the parallel progress on the official side. For that reason it was suggested to establish a temporary steering group between the EC, the Council and a group of civil society representatives from the membership of the Civil Society Contact Group and other interested actors. A similar process is taking place on the African side. Read more...

For more information contact Karine Sohet

Check the Euforic newsfeed and dossier on EU-Africa relations

Reviewing the Dutch Africa Policy

In February, the Policy and Operations Evaluation Department (IOB) of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs published the report of its evaluation of Dutch Africa policy between 1998 and 2006. The report contains several hard-hitting conclusions on the direction of Dutch development policy.

The February issue of The Broker features an exclusive report on this IOB evaluation and the first external reactions to its findings.

The issue highlights the good policy intentions, points to the mixed results, and examines results in areas including budget support, sectoral approaches, education, agriculture-urban, governance, ownership, coherence, conflict management, debt, and knowledge and research.

Register online to obtain a print version of this special edition of The Broker.

As lead-in to an online discussion, the issue presents comments on the report from Africa development specialists including: Ernest Aryeetey (ISSER, Ghana), George Ayittey (American University), Joan Boer (OECD), Nils Boesen (Denmark), Solveig Buhl (OECD), Anders Danielson (Sweden), Han van Dijk (Wageningen University), Stephen Ellis (ASC), Leo de Haan (ASC), Paul Hoebink (CIDIN), Wil Hout (ISS), Simon Maxwell (ODI), Nadia Molenaers (University of Antwerp), Oliver Morrissey (University of Nottingham), Steven Ndegwa (World Bank), Francis Nyamnjoh (CODESRIA), Brian Pratt (INTRAC), Joseph Semboja (REPOA, Tanzania), David Sogge (Netherlands), Marian Tupy (Cato Institute), and Doris Voorbraak (World Bank).

At The Broker, you can also sign up for the online discussion on the Dutch Africa policy.

Read the evaluation report (PDF, in Dutch)

More news from The Broker

More about Dutch cooperation policy

Euforic dossier on the Netherlands; also our news in Dutch

African positions on the Externalization of EU Asylum policy

Attempting to control irregular migration, European states are currently developing new approaches to asylum policy based on the notion to externalize the refugee problem. This has led to the establishment of several bi- and multilateral initiatives that seek to strengthen refugee protection, especially in Maghreb and Sub-Saharan countries. The logic behind this wide spectrum of different initiatives is to foster cooperation with African states and thereby reduce the number of asylum seekers in the EU.

According to a recent paper of the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), EU member states thus primarily fund asylum, while the responsibility for physical protection is delegated to the South.

The paper argues that the new policy is based on the wrong assumptions that the Southern countries will cooperate and more importantly are able to substitute an internal European asylum policy with an external African approach. In contrast to European ideas, the authorities argue that there is already an asylum crisis in Africa:

“African states host more refugees, under more complex and insecure conditions, with less international assistance, and with fewer possibilities to find lasting solutions.”

To deal with these problems, African countries either reduce the number of asylum seekers by rejecting them at the border or even carry-out mass expulsions, or they reduce the quality of protection and assistance. The paper elaborates on the case of Tanzania which is currently hosting the largest refugee population in Africa. It concludes:

“If the European approach to African states, and indeed towards refugee-hosting states in the South, were better adapted to account for the position, perspective and concerns of those states, then genuine ‘win-win’ outcomes might be possible.”

The current approach only addresses European interests by ignoring African positions.

See also the paper of the German Institute for International and Security Studies (SWP) on irregular migration and the EU Commission's Green Book on Asylum Policy.

For regular updates on migration policies in Europe please register for Euforic's newsfeed on migration.

by Martin Behrens

Creating a true and equal partnership between Europe and Africa?

One week before the EU-Africa Summit takes place in Lisbon, experts invited by the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation and WEED met on 29 November 2007 in Berlin to discuss the challenges ahead of a true EU-African Partnership.

During the summit, the European Union and the African Union plan to sign a new Strategic Partnership Agreement and a Plan of Action for its implementation. The aim is to concentrate segmented European Africa policies under one coherent framework. Designed by representatives from both continents, it focuses on new and old challenges such as peace and security, sustainable development and democratic governance.

Participants in the Berlin conference discussed whether institutions on both continents are prepared to take the EU-Africa relations to a new higher level and they questioned if the new cooperation is going to be a true partnership between equals.

In his introductory statement, Sven Grimm from the German Development Institute summed up 50 years of African-European relations. In his view the new EU-Africa strategy was prepared to respond to the political changes in Africa and Europe such as the upcoming of the African Union or the EU enlargement. It can also be seen as a reaction to the appearance of China as an important actor on the African continent. Grimm noted a change of focus which puts development aid behind trade and a stronger reflection of African views within the document.

Siegmar Schmidt (University Koblenz-Landau) pointed out that the document reflects a smallest common denominator between the different actors and is more a diplomatic paper than a real strategy with clear aims and concrete plans of action.

The first panel dealt with the current EU Africa relations including issues like governance, security, energy and economic development. Speakers from research and civil society like Stefan Mair (SWP), Siegmar Schmidt (University Koblenz-Landau), George Ehusani (Catholic Bishops Conference Nigeria) talked about progress, problems and policy recommendations.

Father George Ehusani identified the low level of knowledge Africans have about EU-Africa relations and criticized the preparation process which lead to the new EU-Africa strategy:

Click To Play

An important role to empower African civil society was attributed to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). However, participants said that the ‘naming and shaming’ culture within the mechanism does not go along with the African culture of ‘consultation and advice’ and might therefore be the wrong strategy.

Sven Grimm underlined the positive trend of the APRM. In his opinion the non-participation of some African states shows that the mechanism is treated seriously:

Click To Play

Prof. Siegmar Schmidt pointed out that the EU-Africa Partnership is largely based on a strong and effective African Union. He fears that the EU might overestimate its new partner which will need intensive capacity building to deliver towards the expectations. Hear his comments (in German):

Click To Play

In the second panel, participants discussed the new strategy which is going to be signed at the EU-Africa Summit, focusing on how to implement the strategy to become political reality. Keynote speakers were Aldo Ajello (Former EU Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region), Herta Däubler-Gmelin (Head of Human Rights Committee of the German Bundestag), John Mahama (Member of the Parliament of Ghana) and Matthias Mülmenstädt (German Federal Office).

Discussions also covered the ongoing EPA negotiations between the EU and African regions.

Klaus Schilder from WEED remarked that not enough time was spent by both sides to find a common policy and that the EU enforced its position without further analysis of its old trade policies towards Africa. Matthias Mülmenstädt from the German Foreign Service predicted that the talks will lead to a minimal solution which can be carried to the WTO in 2008.

John Mahama from the Ghanaian Parliament criticized the low involvement of parliamentarians during the EPA talks as well as during the preparation of the EU-Africa Strategy:

Click To Play

Regarding the development of democracy and human rights in Africa Mrs. Herta Däubler-Gmelin, head of the parliamentary committee for human rights of the German Bundestag, stressed the common basis of EU and the African Union. Questioned on the new role of China and its low appreciation for human rights in its cooperation policy, she mentioned that even the Chinese increasingly start to look after human rights in Africa since the kidnapping of Chinese workers in Nigeria and strong opposition by some African leaders against new colonization attempts by China.

Towards the end of the conference, all participants agreed that the new EU-Africa Strategy is going to be an improvement for relations between Europe and Africa.

Story by Martin Behrens

Have a look on the recently published summary report of the conference.

EU-Africa strategy and action plan: what place for civil society?

Source: EU News no. 7, October 2007 (APRODEV, CIDSE, Caritas Europa)

According to the official calendar the Joint EU-Africa strategy and the accompanying action plan should be adopted at a ministerial EU-AU Troika meeting on 31st October.

It followed intensive work on both sides to fine-tune the text of the two documents in separate and joint sessions. At mid-October, the following issues were still subject to divergence of views between the two parties:

- cultural goods, which is one of the most sensitive issues
- energy and climate change, especially concerning nuclear power development
- migration and specifically the feasibility of a new fund as proposed in the Tripoli declaration
- EPAs
- debt cancellation, also from the aspect of debt sustainability

In parallel with the finalisation of the text of the strategy, the two parties worked on the elaboration of an action plan for the first two years of implementation of the strategy and on a joint institutional architecture. The action plan will be organised around a series of 8 partnerships (namely joint action programmes) on the model of the already effective infrastructure partnership.

It seems that civil society actors are expected to play a role in most of these partnerships but their real contribution will depend on the possibilities offered for civil society participation in the implementation of usual aid instruments (EDF, ENPI, annual EU budget and in certain cases additional contributions from MS) that will form the financial arm of the strategy. No radical change is to be expected in practice at least in the next two years. Our understanding is that the existing cooperation instruments will be adapted to the strategy and that the mid-term review will be a perfect opportunity for such a revision.

The Lisbon Civil Society Forum that will take place in November is the best occasion to draft a civil society declaration. It will gather up to 400 CS actors from Europe and Africa on 15 November and is followed by a seminar on 16 and 17 November where 100 participants are expected to discuss issues more in depth. More information

Read more...

Also check out the Public consultation on the EU-Africa Joint Strategy and Euforic's dossiers on Africa and civil society

Advancing African Agriculture the focus of the second Brussels Briefing

On 17 october, CTA, Euforic, and other partners held the second in the series of Brussels Development Briefings. The first, on 4 July, looked at Rural development challenges in ACP countries.

The October briefing looked at issues associated with the recently-adopted EC Communication on "Advancing African Agriculture".

The briefing consisted of two panels: the first looking at the key areas underlined in the EC Communication; the second looking forward to issues of implementation.

More than 100 participants between ACP-EU policy makers, representatives of EU Member States, civil society groups, European research networks, researchers and development practitioners and international organisations attended the event.

The programme, presentations and video materials, speaker information, video interviews, and further readings are available at the Brussels Briefing website.

African voices and views on Europe

Brussels, 16 October. The book 'African voices' and exhibition 'emerging views on Europe' are important complementary initiatives expressing Africa's ideas on Europe's influence on its continent. They came together tonight in the European Parliament with a photo exhibition and a presentation also featuring a keynote speech by Joseph Borrell, President of the European Parliament.

Organised by Concord, the 'emerging views' photo exibition - that will tour Europe - brings together images taken by African partners to represent how they see European development cooperation and its impact. These images range from those showing European exploitation of Africa, with a lizard eating a praying Mantis, to those promoting European ideals. Others show European support to Africa in practice, with European NGOs risking lives to support water pumps in conflict regions.

Concord's Director Olivier Consolo explains the objectives of the 'emerging views' exhibition:

Click To Play

The 'African voices' project is managed by BOND, the British NGDO platform. This publication, available in English, French and Portuguese, stresses the need for true partnership between Europe and Africa. It synthesizes African views on trade justice, human security, African government accountability and the role the African diaspora in Europe can play. It concludes by voicing concerns that the EU Strategy for Africa becomes a truly joint EU-Africa strategy. While there has been internet-based and some face to face consultation with African and European civil society groups, the authors of the publication express concern that this has fallen short of what was necessary.

Gillian Ayong introduces the 'africa voices' publication and comments on the joint EU-Africa strategy:

Click To Play

See also the Euforic dossier on EU-Africa cooperation

Africa unbound

Brussels, 19 September. Friends of Europe today hosted an interesting debate on policy challenges for Africa.

In the context of the forthcoming Lisbon Summit and the proposed joint EU-Africa strategy, the UK's Baroness Amos defined the challenges that Africa faces and the type of partnership that is needed to counter them. In spite of some positive exceptions, the lack of sustainable development and the fragility of state institutions undermine the future progress of the whole continent. In addition, Africa's failures and successes have an impact on Europe. Therefore "Africa can't be ignored." Europe has to recognise this, and act upon it, through a "new level" of partnership with Africa, a "people centered partnership".

Taking these ideas forward, Herta Daubler-Gmelin from the German Bundestag underlined the importance of the Lisbon Summit for taking to the next step the positive results of the 2007 G8 summit. She argued that Lisbon needs to be a place where European and Africa leaders agree on a limited set of issues, but devise a concrete action plan to tackle them. Among all, priority should be given to health, but also on migration Europe needs to adopt a "positive approach."

MEP Ana Maria Gomes suggested that a joint EU-Africa strategy responds to the need for the two continents to jointly face different policy challenges; but how can this strategy be translated into reality? For Gomes, there is "no need to reinvent the wheel; instead, there is a need for real political commitment to face together the global challenges ahead." In practical terms, this translates in more aid effectiveness and more aid for trade. But above all, in a more structured and constant dialogue between the two continents.

Finnish MP Kimmo Kiljunen offered a different perspective, looking into the past to justify a Europe-Africa strategy. Recognising that Europe and Africa have a long history of interdependence this means recognising the role that Europe had in determining Africa's present situation. The joint strategy finds in this historical bounds its reasons and its main elements: more aid effectiveness; more coordination; common voice for Europe in international financial institutions; more aid for trade and economic cooperation; new sources for financing development.

More information on the Joint EU-Africa strategy

See Euforic's Africa-Europe dossier

Friends of Europe web site

story by Pier Andrea Pirani

Civil Society Forum ahead of the Europe-Africa Summit

The Civil Society Forum on the Euro-African Dialogue is the key event of the Portuguese NGDO's project for the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union (EU). It will take place in Lisbon from the 15th to the 17th of November, gathering together civil society representatives from Africa and Europe with the main objective of working towards the construction of a strong shared vision on development for Africa. The Forum will serve as a basis for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to voice their main concerns and make recommendations on how to improve the Europe-Africa dialogue, with regards to both its strategic and more concrete dimensions.

The organisation of this event is part of a process that started years ago, being the Cairo Summit of 2000 one of the milestones in the construction of this dialogue. Parallel to this summit, an inter-continental meeting of Civil Society had been organised in Lisbon, to support the search for solutions regarding topics such as the eradication of poverty and impoverishment and the development of social well being, economic and globalisation issues and human rights, democracy, the rule of law and the good management of public affairs.

Considering the evolution of both the international and the regional contexts in the last seven years, this period is seen as an opportunity for CSOs to reflect on past achievements, current constraints and chances, as well as future challenges, and build recommendations aiming at taking concrete steps towards a solid and balanced political dialogue. Therefore, building on previous processes and in line with the priorities of the Portuguese NGDOs Platform for the EU Presidency, the Civil Society Forum will address four main topics:

• Trade and development;
  
• Governance and fragile states;
• Migration and development;
• Cooperation issues.

The Forum will be structured into plenary sessions, open to a wide range of participants, as well as several specific workshops, restricted to a more limited number of organisations. Moreover, the opening and closing sessions will be held in conjunction with the Euro-African Parliamentarian Forum organised by the North-South Centre (Council of Europe). The final product of the Forum will combine a proactive and innovative document, regarding Civil Society vision on Euro-African relationships, and key political messages and recommendations related to specific aspects of the Euro-African dialogue tackled during the Forum.

More information at www.plataformaongd.pt

Story by António Raimundo, Project Co-ordinator of the EU Presidency Project

Launch of the Portuguese NGDO Presidency Project

The Portuguese NGDO Platform is launching in Lisbon its Presidency Project focused on the Europe-Africa Dialogue on the 5th of July 2007. This event will take place at the "Clube de Jornalistas" (Rua das Trinas, 127, Lisbon) and will consist in the presentation of the main priorities and activities of the project. It will be attended by civil society and official bodies' representatives, both national and international. At the end of the ceremony a cocktail will be offered to the participants.

Read the press release.

Source: Plataforma Portuguesa ONDG.

See also Euforic EU Presidency dossier.

A shaky end for the German Presidency

Let's look back on the events of the past month and take stock of the last six months of Germany's Council Presidency and the presidency project of Germany’s national platform, VENRO, which focused mainly on "Prospects for Africa – Europe's Policies".

Given the rapidly changing economic, political and social processes taking place in Africa and Europe, close cooperation between Southern and Northern NGOs is more urgent and necessary than ever. European NGOs and their African partners therefore discussed the role of NGOs in the European Development Policy. In their Development Policy Manifesto, African and German civil society organisations resist all attempts to commercialise private efforts on sustainable development and refuse to be seen as implementers of preconceived EU policies without a full right of initiative.

In June – as relations between Africa and the European Union were at the heart of the Presidency's activities, with the 13th ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly taking place in Wiesbaden from 23 to 28 June – VENRO presented its presidency project, entitled "Prospects for Africa – Europe's Policies", with an information stand. Together with the informal Alliance EPA07 it organised a breakfast meeting with parliamentarians from Africa and Europe to discuss the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). On the EU-Africa Strategy, which is to be adopted at the planned EU-Africa Summit in Lisbon in December 2007, VENRO met with the
Member of European Parliament, Maria Martens, who will report on this strategy in the EU.

But June was also the month of the G8 meeting. On this occasion, international civil society organisations gathered in Germany under the banner of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) to remind the leaders of the world's eight richest nations to meet their promises to eradicate poverty. NGOs held a civil society demonstration and an alternative summit in Rostock. This week of protest against the G8 summit included mobilisation, demonstrations and blockades as well as debates and seminars.

In particular, German NGOs launched a campaign against unfair international trade policies and urged the German Chancellor and the G8 to reorient world trade policy so that it contributes to global justice and respect for social and economic human rights. It wants policies that put environmental protection, human rights and overcoming poverty before economic interests and ahead of one-sided liberalisation. In parallel, a number of GCAP West Africa NGOs attended the People's Forum in Sikasso to raise awareness of the demands the GCAP was putting to the G8, and held a press conference.

The biggest global climate petition in history was also handed to Ms Merkel, German's top negotiator at the G8+5 summit. Germany chaired the talks, and used the petition to show the strength of global opinion on this issue.

For further information: a two-page summary of the main VENRO activities: http://www.trialog.or.at/docs/venro_presidency.pdf.
Also visit the GCAP website: www.whiteband.org

Source: CONCORD Flash - June 2007.

See also Euforic dossier on the EU Presidency

The European Food Security Group reacts to "Advancing African Agriculture"

From 23 to 25 April, the 66 session of the FAO Committee on Commodity Problems was held in Rome, in advance of the FAO Committee on Agriculture meeting (due to take place the following week). Civil society representatives organised two side events to prepare for the Committee on Commodity Problems meeting, which is always an important date for NGOs interested in agriculture, trade, and food sovereignty issues.
NGOs and civil society organisations were able to participate in the Committee on Commodity Problems as observers, once they were accredited to an international organisation, in this case, CONCORD. In the end, seven NGOs from the European Food Security Group (EFSG) were accredited through CONCORD, which meant that CONCORD was
represented on an FAO committee for the first time.

The main topics of interest on the agenda included:

• supply management, to raise international agricultural commodity prices – this was included on the agenda in response to the demands of the African group, which had raised this question within the scope of the WTO negotiations;
  
• the current situation and outlook for world commodity markets, including the implications of Chinese and Indian economic growth;
• the development of multilateral trade negotiations and consequences for markets and trade in commodities;
• special products as part of the multilateral trade negotiations;
• aid for trade in multilateral trade negotiations;
• analysis, preliminary findings and lessons learned from previously documented import surges.

For further information: mmiege@CONCORDeurope.org.

Source: CONCORD Flash - April 2007.

See also Euforic dossier on Africa.

EU-Africa Joint strategy: civil society conferences in Germany and in Ghana

A first outline of a joint strategy should be adopted at the EU-AU Ministerial Troika meeting on 15 May. The content of the draft is not available to civil society actors but we heard from the German Presidency that it contained 39 points covering a broad range of issues.

A conference organised by ECDPM and VENRO, the German NGO platform, brought together around 100 African and European civil society actors and AU and EU officials in Bad-Honnef (Germany) on 23 and 24 April. The aim of the conference was to formulate clear expectations of a representative sample of key Civil Society Organisations vis-à-vis the EU and AU regarding the contents of the EU-Africa strategy and their role in it. A further aim of the conference was to identify common viewpoints and to develop recommendations to the official negotiators, so that these can be taken into account in the deliberations of the EU-Africa Ministerial Troika Meeting of 15 May. However, the invitation was sent at late notice (around Easter) and it was quite difficult for EU civil society actors to prepare themselves and to make sure that some of their partners were present at the conference. The African actors, present in number at the meeting, had all been invited by the organisers.

Rob van Drimmelen, general secretary of APRODEV and talking on behalf of CONCORD urged the EU and the AU to continue the consultation process beyond the meeting in May and to allow for inputs until and even beyond the Summit in December. 'We would like to see the Summit as a milestone in a process and not the end of the process itself', he said.

For Concord, working towards a Joint EU-Africa Strategy presents a possibility to rebalance the relationships between Africa and the EU and to make these relationships more comprehensive and inclusive of the various different actors and stakeholders. Concord would like to see that the Joint Strategy demonstrates a shared commitment to the promotion of all human rights, gender equality and the fight against poverty. The frameworks to be used are already there: the Millennium Declaration, the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, the European Consensus on Development, and other international commitments that were made by the EU and African states. It would be good to know how the results of this conference will be incorporated in the 'official' drafting process, and at what stage the draft Joint Strategy will be made public for comments and inputs, said van Drimmelen.

No concrete response was received at Bad-Honnef but the Portuguese NGO platform is planning to organise a major Europe-Africa civil society Forum during the Portuguese Presidency while the African Union still intends to organise an inter-continental civil society consultation in September and it is obvious that civil society organisations on both sides will maintain pressure until the Lisbon summit.

In Bad-Honnef, African participants would have liked to see a more deliberate connection with the debates and results of the Accra meeting that was organised by the African Union Commission from 26 to 28 March.

At that meeting, African civil society noted in particular that governance, both as a process and outcome, should be seen as permanent work in progress confronting every country. They believed that no region of the world can claim a monopoly of goodness hence the Joint Strategy should be anchored on a desire to improve and deepen governance both in Africa and Europe. They agreed on 7 priority areas which should be the main issue areas that would underpin any joint strategy or partnership with Europe:

1. development imperatives should determine the socio-economic policies to ensure social equity and economic growth; basic needs should be the anchor of Afric's socio-economic development;
2. the values of democracy, rule of law, social justice, participation and citizenship, particularly in relation to women, youth and the Diaspora;
3. the strengthening of public institutions and service;
4. emphasis on regional integration and continental unity as pillars of the partnership arrangements. In this area, particular attention must be focused on the indivisibility of Africa.
5. the need for adequate infrastructure;
6. promote gender responsive policies;
7. the requirement of balanced integration into the world economy encompassing trade,labour movements and investments.

Source: EU News - Issue 3, May 2007 (APRODEV, CIDSE, Caritas Europa).

For more information, see europafrica.org and Euforic dossier on Africa.