Ursula von der Leyen’s first official trip as European Commission president was to Africa, specifically to the seat of the African Union in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. The symbolism has not gone unnoticed. Europe’s relations with Africa — still conducted through the prism of colonialism, aid and, more recently, illegal migration — are badly in need of a reset.
While Europe has been looking backwards, however, others have looked to the future. China’s presence in Africa has been maligned, portrayed as neocolonialist, exploitative and devoid of conditionality, a policy Beijing dresses up as non-interference. There is some truth to this. But overall, if anything, Europe can learn from China’s pragmatism in treating Africa as an equal partner and a business opportunity — a stance that chimes with Africa’s stated goal of moving “beyond aid”.
In 2019, the EU was supposed to renegotiate its comprehensive partnership with Africa, the so-called Cotonou Agreement, a 20-year pact that expires this year. Talks have stalled. The AU is unhappy that discussions are being held in the context of the African, Caribbean and Pacific group, which excludes north Africa but includes island nations in the Caribbean and Pacific. Meanwhile, the practicalities of EU-Africa trade relations are regulated by a patchwork of a dozen or so overlapping arrangements with different African trade blocs.
The AU wants a continent-to-continent agreement. While this will obviously take time, it is a worthwhile ambition, one that should be much easier now that 54 countries are moving rapidly to enact the African Continental Free Trade Area, an agreement that removes 90 per cent of tariffs on intra-African trade. Yet despite this progress, AU negotiators sense resistance to the idea in Brussels.
If that is true, Europe is missing a trick. Africa’s free trade area could catalyse intra-continental trade, which would give its economies greater ability to attract investment and move up the value chain. Europe should be enthusiastically embracing this agenda. It is Africa’s best chance of breaking out of poverty.
On a bilateral level both Germany and France have made efforts to think differently. Partly spurred by concerns over migration, Germany launched the so-called Marshall Plan with Africa in 2018, one of whose aims is to encourage more investment on the continent. Emmanuel Macron has also worked hard to recast Paris’ relations with Africa, agreeing to end the CFA franc regime in west Africa and broadening France’s engagement beyond francophone Africa. Soon to be outside the EU, the UK is seeking to reboot relations too, though its romantic notions about the role of the Commonwealth will gain little traction.
Beyond trade, Europe needs a coherent African policy on security, immigration and climate change. On immigration, it should work to help countries deal with intra-African migration, which accounts for 80 per cent of all flows. As far as possible, it should work with the AU on peacekeeping missions to combat the very real threat of terrorism in the Horn and the Sahel.
In general, policies must take into account the fact that the two continents’ futures are likely to be ever closely entwined. Africa’s population will double to 2.5bn over the next 30 years. If things go well, Africa could provide the markets and young workforce that Europe needs. If they go badly, it could be a source of instability and uncontrollable migration. The sooner Europe adopts the “comprehensive strategy for Africa” that Ms von der Leyen has called for, the better.
