Q & A: New EU Strategy for Africa

1. What is the EU Strategy for Africa?

With this communication, the European Commission proposes the framework for a strategic partnership between the European Union and Africa. It sets out the way on how to support Africa's efforts to get the continent back on track towards sustainable development and attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It focuses on key requirements for sustainable development such as peace and security, good and effective governance, trade, interconnectivity, social cohesion and environmental sustainability. In addition, it reaffirms the commitment to increase EU aid to Africa and to improve aid effectiveness.

2. Why is the Commission preparing a new EU Strategy for Africa?

Despite much progress, Africa's road towards sustainable development remains long:

• Every 30 seconds, an African child dies of malaria,
• Malnutrition and unsafe drinking water are widespread throughout the continent,
• 40% of all Africans are still living on less then one EURO a day,
• three out of every four persons who die from AIDS are Africans,
• one African out of five lives in a country affected by war or violent conflict,
• eighteen out of the twenty poorest countries in the world are African (in terms of per-capita income),
• Africa is the only part of the developing world where life expectancy has been falling over the last 30 years.

Without substantial additional political will and financial resources Africa will only be able to reach most of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), not by the target year of 2015, but by 2050. As the biggest donor of development aid and the biggest trading partner of Africa, the European Union has assumed its responsibility. It has acted quickly and decisively to support Africa's development: The European Council decided in June 2005 to make more resources available for development and to make Africa a particular focus of European development policy: The new EU Strategy for Africa sets out the framework of this policy based on the principles of equality, partnership and ownership.

3. What are the main themes of the EU Strategy for Africa?

The Strategy focuses on the key requirements without which sustainable development in Africa will not be possible: peace, security and good governance. It subsequently looks into action on key areas that create the necessary economic environment for development such as economic growth, trade and infrastructure. Finally, the strategy pushes for investing into areas with an important and direct impact on the fulfilment of the MDGs such as health and education, sanitation, and environment.

To address the key conditions for sustainable development, the EU strategy for Africa proposes inter alia a Governance Initiative and a Partnership for Infrastructure.

4. What does the EU's commitment for "more, better and faster" mean for Africa?

The EU Strategy for Africa reaffirms the EU's development aid commitment to do more, better and faster, made at the June 2005 European Council, to Africa:

• Finance: At least 50% of the additional annual budget made available for development aid by 2010 will go to Africa. EU Aid to Africa will increase by two-thirds from 17 billion EUR in 2003 to a total of 25 billion EUR / year in 2010 (approx. figures);
• Budgetary support will increasingly be used to implement development projects faster and strengthen African ownership;
• Coordination among EU donors should be strengthened through concrete initiatives proposed in the Strategy; in this sense, it proposes to elaborate an Action Plan in 2006 enabling progress on issues such as Joint Programming.
• Coherence with other policy areas such as trade, agriculture, fisheries and migration will be strengthened.

5. Which other concrete projects does the EU propose in its strategy?

To deepen the partnership between Europe and Africa, the EU Strategy proposes the following additional initiatives:

• Twinning partnerships between universities, schools, municipalities, businesses, parliaments and civil society;
• Creation of a pan-European voluntary service for young people with skills to share who are interested in Africa's development;
• Building on the experience and success of the Erasmus programme, a similar programme for student exchange between Africa and Europe will be examined.

6. How have relations between the EU and Africa changed?

The relations between the European Union and Africa are not new. They have evolved over the decades into a strong partnership based on common interests and mutual recognition. Yet, the relations between the EU and Africa have for too long been too fragmented between different policy areas and different approaches. The impact of EU policies is greater if all 25 Member States and the European Commission pull in the same direction and speak with one voice. Neither Europe nor Africa can ignore the three main opportunities for change that allow for building a single, comprehensive and long-term strategic EU-Africa framework:

• One Africa: Many African countries have shown an impressive economic and social development in recent years. The African Union (AU) and NEPAD (New Economic Partnership for African Development) have rallied the continent around a process of political and economic integration.
• One Europe: The European Union's potential has increased with 25 Member States, but so have the challenges. The EU must improve coherence and coordination and make its aid more effective.
• Common Objectives: Sustainable development in Africa is in Europe's interest: economically, politically and strategically. A cross-cutting objective in the "EU strategy for Africa" is the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on the African continent.

The EU Strategy for Africa can be downloaded at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/index_en.htm

More information on the EU's support for the Millennium Development Goals:

www.europe-cares.org

Background

7. What is the political situation in Africa today?

With the birth of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) in 2001 and the African Union (AU) in 2002, Africa has equipped itself with a strategy and institutions capable of guiding Africa on the road towards political and economic integration. The Regional Economic Communities (RECs), the building blocks of the continental integration process, are committed to fostering economic growth and political stability. At national level, many countries are making progress in the field of governance. In the past five years, for example, more than two thirds of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have held multi-party elections. A number of countries, such as Ghana in West-Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in East-Africa and the RSA, Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique in Southern Africa have proven that political stability and sustainable development are two sides of one coin.

8. What is the economic situation in Africa today?

In the late 1990s Sub-Saharan Africa saw the first signs of a reversal of the trend of stalled growth of the previous two decades. In 2004, the region recorded real GDP growth of 5.1%, compared to 4.2% in 2003 and average annual growth of 2.3% between 1980 and 2000. Years of difficult structural reforms, the development of intra-regional trade and a fall in the incidence of conflicts have been key contributing factors to this expansion. Notwithstanding this progress, the number of Africans living on EUR 1 a day has almost doubled since 1981 to 314 million people. Thirty-four of the world's 48 poorest countries and 24 of the 32 countries ranked lowest in the UNDP Human Development Index (HDI) are still in Africa, where malaria and HIV/AIDS kill over 2 million people a year.

9. What is the African Union (AU)?

The African Union, formally established in July 2002, has rapidly developed into a strong and credible continental political organisation. The AU seeks to promote progressive political and economic integration, democratic societies, and sustainable development on the basis of African-owned strategies. Only three years after its establishment, the AU has already made considerable progress and earned international respect as a credible and legitimate continental political actor and agent of change. Despite its limited resources, the AU was able to take responsibility and leadership for the African peace and security agenda and it continues to play a crucial role in the ongoing Darfur crisis.

10. How does the EU support the African Union?

The establishment of the AU as a new institutional pan-African level of governance has created new opportunities, and a new momentum, for EU-Africa relations. The EU has provided considerable political and financial support to the African Union and supports its objectives. Building on its own experience with integration processes, the EC has considered itself a key ally in the AU's ambition to become a credible 'change actor' on the continent.

EU and AU have identified three main ways of building an effective partnership: through political dialogue, existing agreements and through the creation of a pan-African programme. The EU and the AU currently implement a number of joint projects, including the Peace Facility for Africa and a €50m support programme for the AU's institutional and operational development.

11. Figures about EU Development Policy in Africa

The European Union is the biggest donor of development aid worldwide and the largest trading partner of the developing countries. For historical, economic and political reasons, the EU is also by far the most important donor of development aid and trading partner of the African continent:

• overall, the EU (Member States and EC) provides 60% of all development aid to Africa
• The EC is the second biggest EU donor to Africa after France with 10% of all aid to Africa
• currently 46% of total EU aid goes to sub-Saharan Africa (e.g. 49% of Community aid, 85% of Irish aid, 82% of Belgian aid)

ODA (Official Development Assistance) to Africa by donors (OECD figures 2003 - table does not include the figures of other bilateral donors than EU, USA, Japan)

[Graphic in PDF & Word format]

12. Facts about sub-Saharan Africa^[1]

• The country with the largest population is Nigeria, with 136.5 million people. It is followed by Ethiopia, with 68.6 million people, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, with 53.2 million.
• The countries with the highest life expectancy are the Seychelles and Mauritius, 73 years (2003).
• The country with the lowest total life expectancy, 36 years (2003), is Zambia, followed by Lesotho and Sierra Leone with 37 years.
• The countries with the greatest reduction in life expectancy over the past decade in SSA are Lesotho (-20 years), Botswana (-19 years), and Zimbabwe (-18 years).
• The country with the greatest HIV prevalence is Swaziland, where one out of every four adults has contracted the virus (38.8 percent of people in the 15-49 age group). This is followed by Botswana while the least is Mauritania (0.9).
• Nearly half the population of Uganda (49.8) and Niger (48.9) are under 14 years old (2002).
• The country with the highest level of child malnutrition is Angola: 53 percent of children under 5 are stunted (small for their age). Mauritania has the lowest levels, with 10 percent.
• The country with the highest adult literacy is Zimbabwe (90 percent).
• The country with the lowest adult literacy is Niger (17 percent).
• The country with the lowest percentage of population with access to safe water is Ethiopia, with 22 percent.
• The country with the least access to safe sanitation is Ethiopia, with only 6 percent of the population having access.
• The country that received the highest net aid per capita during 2002 is Cape Verde (256 EUR), followed by São Tomé and Principe (200 EUR) and the Seychelles (92 EUR).
• The countries that received the lowest net ODA per capita in 2003 were Nigeria (1.67 EUR)), Togo (7.50 EUR), Central Africa (10.90 EUR), and South Africa (11.70 EUR).

^[1] Source: World Bank Fact Sheets

| Arriba |

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• European Commission-African Union Joint Declaration  (2/10/2006)
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• EU and Eastern and Southern Africa close first phase of Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations  (9/2/2006)
• Le Fonds fiduciaire de la BEI pour le financement des infrastructures en Afrique (9/2/2006)
• EU Commission provides further €5m for drought victims in Horn of Africa (8/2/2006)
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• EU and Africa: Towards a Strategic Partnership  (19/12/2005)
• EU Commission provides €2m of humanitarian aid to ethnic tensions victims in Kenya (15/12/2005)
• EU Commission presents Strategy to help Developing Countries end Health Workers Shortage (14/12/2005)
• EU-Africa Ministerial meeting (5/12/2005)
• EU Council Conclusions - EU Strategy for Africa (22/11/2005)
• EU Presidency Statement - General Debate on Africa (13/10/2005)
• EU Commission adopts new European Union Strategy for Africa (12/10/2005)
• Barroso listens to Africa (23/6/2005)
• EC and World Bank agreed to intensified partnership to support Africa's push toward achieving MDG's (18/4/2005)
• EC welcomes G8 commitment to put Africa and Development high on its agenda (18/3/2005)
• EC welcomes launch of the Commission for Africa report (11/3/2005)