The Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) is quite the opposite of what Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council, warned of in his now famous speech on the EU’s strategic partners. In the case of the JAES, a policy framework in place since 2007, the strategy is spelled out in Action Plans. Yet the process and political direction of the strategy could be optimized. The JAES is meant to be the EU’s strategy towards Africa as much as Africa’s strategy towards the EU. This concept would mean that the partnership reflects both partners’ priorities. This, ...
Which policy maker, in particular at the time when many developed countries are struggling with budgetary constraints and have little left for development support, would not agree that it has become imperative to transform the rich African mineral resources into long-term sustainable development? African leaders have placed the bet to attain this objective by 2050. Traditional development partners got the message and are making efforts to strengthen their partnership with Africa. This is to some extent, in reaction to the increasing role of emerging players in Africa. The future looks promising In recent years, the ...
In the various analyses of the European External Action Service (EEAS) one year on, those who view the glass “half empty” (mostly independent analysts, journalists and think tanks) seem to have the upper hand on those who view it as “half full” (the official report). Key questions for assessing the EEAS’ performance in relation to Africa are: has the EEAS helped to upgrade the political dialogue between the EU and Africa, and increased the coherence of EU policies, while also furthering development commitments? Africa as a whole, like many other regions and issues, has struggled ...
ECDPM is currently reflecting on the content and orientation of the next issue of its annual Challenges Inbrief. This publication is published at the start of each year, and aims to identify key issues for policy making for EU-Africa relations in the year ahead. The paper, in traditional ECDPM style, aims to be informative and ‘facilitating’, helping readers identify key debates and moments in EU development cooperation and external action. The writing process provides us with an opportunity to take a step back from our day to day work to look forward and to reflect ...
In the field of foreign policy and external action, the promise of the European Union’s (EU) Lisbon Treaty was for a more integrated and coherent EU, with the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the European External Action Service (EEAS) at the helm. The EEAS has just published the EU Strategy for Security and Development in the Sahel region, and as it is one of the first integrated geographic strategies put forward under the new institutional setup, it might be read as an indicator for the future of EU ...
Over 60 institutional actors and individuals from various parts of Africa, the Caribbean, the Pacific, Europe and emerging economies participated in last week’s ECDPM 25th anniversary high-level seminar entitled: “Global changes, emerging players and evolving ACP-EU relations: towards a common agenda for action”. ECDPM’s Talking Points blog online discussion held in the run up to the seminar and a background paper served as the basis for the discussions at the event, which considered options for continued ACP-EU cooperation once the current ACP-EU Partnership Agreement (commonly referred to as the “Cotonou Agreement”) expires in 2020. A ...
Talking Points audio: ECDPM's Melissa Julian interviews Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Secretary General of the ACP Group.[ 24:17 ]Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Over the past couple of years, new global players underscored their ascendance in the world order. Emerging economies leveraged their strong economic recovery with a rapid expansion of global trade and finance, including to developing countries. By contrast, many traditional global powers struggled to make ends meet. Countries that have been prominent donors for decades fell back on their development cooperation commitments. Many, moreover, continued to integrate their development support with responses to a host of other concerns – such as peace and security, climate change, economic recovery and growth, and food security. They now ...
The African Union Commission’s Mission to the European Union (EU) hosted a conference in Brussels on 24 May on the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance and the Africa-EU Political Dialogue. Ambassador Emile Ognimba, Director of the Political Affairs Department of the African Union (AU) Commission, Klaus Rudischhauser, Director General of the European Commission’s (EC) Africa, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) Directorate within DEVCO and Roger Moore, Director of the European External Action Service’s (EEAS) Directorate for East and Central Africa were the keynote discussants. The Africa-EU Platform for Dialogue on Governance and Human Rights was ...
The Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) was originally billed as the panacea for policy incoherence, but the ambitious project is now being criticized by African and European stakeholders for lacking strategic focus and for its aspirational character. An ECDPM article analyses the role of the Nordic EU member states in EU-Africa relations and their attitudes towards the JAES and the authors find that the Nordics’ engagement with the JAES illustrate the varying degrees of commitment to this multilateral framework of EU Member States in general: they are making use of the broad JAES framework by engaging ...
Renier Nijskens, Director of the Africa Desk at Federal Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a representative of the Belgian EU Presidency that presided over last year’s EU-Africa summit, answers Europafrica’s questions about the post-summit Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES). The bulletin also provides you with an update on the implementation and monitoring process of the JAES. It also includes information about various events and a summary of recent contributions related to the strategy. Finally, the Europafrica bulletin gives you the latest news on institutional negotiations and their future timeline.
