Europe is credited with the discovery of Africa, the continent blessed by nature, rich in resources. With its commercial ties starting way back in 15 th century, Europe certainly had the opportunity to dominate over the continent. As documented in history, the richness of the continent fuelled its ambition leading to the “scramble for Africa’ in the 1880s that lasted until the decolonisation of Africa in the middle of the last century.
Post-colonial period of Africa welcomed new partnerships from across the globe. After almost hundred years of dominance over Africa, Europe found itself pushed to the margins by other super powers like Russia, China and the US who wooed Africa with large investment commitments and tempting business proposals. Added to that, the EU’s relationship with the African Union also soured over time.
Soon, it became fashionable for Africa’s partners to host Africa Summits, a platform to charm the continent with their pompous investment and business plans. China who regularly hosts China-Africa Summits concluded its summit with Africa early this year. A Russia- Africa summit is being planned for the later part of the year. President Biden has also indicated his plans to have a second Africa-US leaders’ Summit this year.
Against this backdrop, the Sixth European Union – African Union Summit held on Feb 17-18 in Brussels was significant in many ways. The European Union welcomed more than 40 African leaders to Brussels in an effort to recast its ties with the continent where China and Russia have made deep inroads and at a time when Africa felt let down by Europe’s COVID-19 vaccines rollout. The summit concluded on 18 February with the announcement of a ‘Joint vision for 2030’.The major highlights of the document are EU’s promise of an investment package of €150bn for Africa over the next seven years and support for both the delivery and production of Covid-19 vaccines on the continent.
However political analysts feel that the document falls short of many expectations of Africa. These include African demands relating to gas and fossil fuels, the waiving of intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines, the reallocation of IMF special drawing rights (SDRs) and migration.
While the joint declaration recognises the significance of Africa’s energy transition, it makes no commitment on President Sall’s(AU chair and president of Senegal) specific demand on the maintenance of financing of the gas industry and hydrocarbons.
Similarly, AU’s demand for support of a waiver of intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines has remained a sharp point of contention. Europe’s argument that transferring knowledge and ramping up manufacturing capacity would take years has been disputed by the recent success of researchers in South Africa.
Africa expected the support of Europe in achieving the reallocation of IMF special drawing rights (SDRs). Currently, SDRs are allocated as per the size of economy which means less went to the countries that needed them most, with Africa receiving only $33bn.
Experts feel that If the EU is serious about rekindling its relations with Africa, the it should reconsider some of its positions. It should take bold leadership in difussing crises in the central Sahel region and address the humanitarian issues. For that, it has to rise above its current short-sighted approach of prioritising security and border management and address the ‘system failure’ that is worsening the crises.
The ‘Joint vision for 2030’ document experts say looks more like Europe trying to compete with China in Africa than what African countries need for development. Some feel that the projection is a combination of grants, loans and budget guarantees largely drawn from the EU’s existing 2021-2027 budget. EU, they say, should match the narrative with the financial resources commensurate with the crisis.
Pandemic has drained off the years of hard work by Africa towards Sustainable Development Goals. Political and social analysts observe that the EU and AU must jointly work to get Africa back on track and ensure a resilient and sustainable future for the Africans.
