Civicus: The Africa – EU strategic partnership helps only Europe

The Africa – EU Strategic Partnership will influence every relationship between the two continents, including development and relief projects. This session at the CIVICUS World Assembly gathered 25 civil society figures from across Europe and Africa to learn more about the key issues, and debate the pros and cons of the partnership. Below is a summary of the points raised.

It was agreed that the new Strategic Partnership does have some good points, notably an explicit desire to involve civil society, and a focus on human rights. It is a distinct improvement upon the previous partnership agreement. However a number of concerns were raised, which are grouped thematically.

Unequal partnership:

oEU and AU are unequal partners as the EU is stronger than the AU.

oThis strategy is only for the benefit of Europe, and there is no benefit to Africa in this new strategy. It has been rushed into because of the rapid economic and political gains made by China in Africa.

oWhilst the strategy talks of mutual respect between the EU and Africa, this has not been the experience of the EPA negotiations, and the lessons from this process have not been learned and applied to the roll-out of the Strategic Partnership.

 

Poor planning and lack of consultation:

oWhilst we are now in the implementation phase, large parts of civil society have not been consulted and are still questioning about the process.

oThere is a lack of knowledge about the Strategic Partnership – at the beginning of the session the majority of the participants were not aware of it.

oThe strategy does not lay out a framework for monitoring and evaluation.

oThere appears to have been poor planning regarding the resources for the consultations and meetings to take place, as this is currently not in place. Without a system fro civil society engagement the danger is that civil society, especially in Africa, will not have the involvement in the process that the document envisages.

 

Recommendations:

oThere is a need to ensure social protection and rights are mainstreamed throughout the Partnership.

oCivil society in Africa and Europe must work with the AU and the EU must ensure that the voice of civil society is heard throughout the ongoing implementation of the Strategic Partnership.

oThere is limited capacity to influence this process effectively, especially within Africa. One remedy for this would be increased investment in leadership development.

oDemocracy and good governance must be strengthened in the EU, as well as in Africa. In particular, regarding corruption, there must be greater accountability for personal financial flows that end up in European banks.

oThere is a need for civil society in Africa and the EU to work together to ensure greater accountability of the EU institutions in implementing the policy.

 

Concluding remarks:

oEuropean civil society has a major role to play in ensuring that African civil society is given the opportunity to participate in the process.

oCivil society in both Europe and Africa has a genuine opportunity to be engaged in the process here, as is written in the strategy.

oDespite fears that the process is tokenistic, there is a significant danger that if civil society does not attempt to play a full role it will lose its voice and any influence over the process.