transitions in North Africa
The new African Union Commission (AUC) College will assume office on Monday 15 October. The election of the Chairperson of the Commission raised hope that there is renewed interest in the organisation, especially from its 54 African member states. Never has an election of the continental leadership been this tightly contested leading observers to suggest that they are a turning point in the history of the Union: from now on ,meritocracy will take precedence over diplomacy and unwritten rules, such as regional quota for the allocation of posts, or that the chairmanship cannot be assumed ...
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++ GUEST CONTRIBUTION ++ As EU High Representative Catherine Ashton visits Cairo this week, both Europe and Egypt will think about how they can mould a new relationship. With a newly elected Egyptian President the EU must in turn create a new framework for cooperation with the country. The last thing that Egyptians want is to be told what to do by the EU. As the Arab world’s most populous state stumbles on its path towards democracy and Europe itself struggles economically, can the EU really establish a new and mutually beneficial relationship with a ...
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Few would question the importance of civil society’s role in the events of the Arab Spring, especially in Tunisia and Egypt. Non-state actors were a catalyst for change, particularly as they were vocal in calling for more democratic participation, for government accountability and for a legal framework ensuring the respect of human rights. However, now that transitions away from authoritarian rule have been set in motion (to different degrees), in many instances Arab civil society faces the difficult task to put forward a new, enduring, development agenda. This is all but an easy quest, and ...
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In response to the wave of change unfolding in its Southern Neighbourhood, the EU announced several initiatives reacting to the transitions in the region. While my colleagues Faten Aggad and Alisa Herrero Cangas already gave a broad overview of EU’s initiatives in the region, I now focus on one of them, the SPRING programme (Support to Partnership, Reform and Inclusive Growth), adopted in September 2011. It earmarked € 350 Million to sustain the momentum building up in the Arab world, seizing the opportunity to support democracy and market-oriented economic reforms in the region. The EU’s ...
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++ GUEST CONTRIBUTION ++ In response to the Arab Spring, the European Union (EU) promised to shift away from business as usual. It aims to put support for human rights and democracy at the centre of its co-operation policy with the Arab neighbourhood. In this regard, enabling civil society to function, to advocate for citizens’ priorities and rights and to hold governments and donors to account is pivotal. However, regional consultation on EU policies appears to have been either insufficient, without impact or unappealing. Furthermore, double standards in the past have undermined the EU’s credibility ...
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The EU has a longstanding tradition of engaging in democracy promotion, using a wide range of strategies and instruments to support processes of democratic consolidation, including in difficult contexts. While some successes have been achieved, the task of building genuine democratic systems that go beyond formal structures and help to deliver development has proven very challenging - for both local democracy promoters and international partners. The need for “deepening democracy” has become a rallying cry in the last years. Growing attention is paid to the role of both the “political society’” (i.e. parliaments, political parties) ...
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“Revolutions need to come from inside but transitions can do with support from outside” – So, what is the EU offering?
In response to the Arab Spring the European Commission has proposed to create a new European Neighbourhood Instrument, based on the European Union’s reviewed approach to cooperation with its neighbours in North Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. This new approach was set out in an EU Communication from May 2011 entitled “A new response to a changing Neighbourhood”, and is based on the following principles: “More for more” (“less for less” to be used only in extreme scenarios); Differentiation amongst countries receiving support; and Better coordination between different EU actors (European External Action ...
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Is the EU’s new SPRING Programme so new? Commentary on the EU’s new package for North Africa
The European Union has been criticised for its slow response to the events that have unfolded in Tunisia and in Egypt in the first half of 2011. But it is catching up with the new SPRING programme - Support for Partnership, Reform and Inclusive Growth - which it adopted this week. The four pillars of the new package are: - A €350 million flagship initiative to support the political transition (the SPRING programme); - A Special Measure designed to support poorer areas in Tunisia to the value of €20 million; - Additional resources for higher ...
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Today, the EU finds itself in a delicate position as it reflects on its reaction to the uprisings in the Southern Mediterranean.[i] The EU has been widely criticised for supporting Arab governments for so long and for making a 180 degrees turn only once the peoples of Tunisia and Egypt have already secured the change. Granted! Country ownership of governance reforms is crucial but observers agree that the EU could have done more to support such reforms earlier. Now there are calls to place more emphasis on incentives for reforms. Is the idea of ‘incentive ...
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