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.
Relations between the European Union and its partners in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) are in a parlous state. Past readers of ECDPM’s annual Challenges Paper know that we regularly refer to ACP-EU relations as being at a critical juncture, and this is certainly true at the start of 2011. The EU’s credibility in much of the ACP is at an all-time low, and in the EU many seem to have lost faith in the future of the partnership with the ACP. Moreover, there is a collective failure to recognise that in the ...
The relationship between African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union (EU) is at a crossroads. TNI has emphasised over the past months, that rebuilding trust between the ACP and the EU on the Economic Partnership Agreements requires a new political momentum. For its last issue of the year, ECDPM-ICTSD’s TNI has given the floor to those who hold the reins at the highest political level and includes exclusive interviews with the EU Commissioner for Trade, the Secretary-General of the ACP group and the Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission. Also included ...
