The countries of the European Union are courting 40 heads of state and government from Africa in Brussels. The EU seems to be more euphoric than the members of the African Union.
No stiff EU-Africa summit
Now it could finally take place, the sixth meeting between 27 EU heads of state and government and 40 government representatives of the African Union (AU). The corona pandemic delayed everything. It’s supposed to be a fresh start. An unusual format of the two-day meeting is intended to underline this.
No stiff summit meeting is planned. The EU-Africa summit is intended to be more of an exchange of ideas among executive politicians. At large topic tables, jointly chaired by European and African heads of government, lively discussions should be possible among the participants.
Migration, economic development, infrastructure, energy, climate change, security issues, education, health – the content specifications for the talks are less unusual. That’s because of the history.
A strained relationship
The political relations between the European continent and Africa are complicated, historically of course enormously burdened, ambivalent. The EU and the EU member countries are very present in Africa and at the same time absent. This is paradoxical.
The EU is the AU’s most important trading partner, more important than China, Russia or the USA. The problem is that Europe is underselling. That should change now. That’s why the EU launched the Global Gateway Initiative, its counter-project to China’s massive infrastructure investments on the continent.
Does it go better this time?
The EU and its member states intend to spend 150 billion euros on rails, roads, bridges, ports and telecommunications networks in Africa over the next few years. The sunny African states should also become partners in European climate and energy policy and, where possible, produce green hydrogen.
That all makes sense. Nobody thinks that’s wrong. All underline that time is pressing to enter into more cooperation. However, no one can explain why Europe’s charm offensive has come so late. And no one can offer plausible reasons why this time it will be better than in the past when similar promises were made.
EU has credibility problems
The EU has a big problem in Africa. It’s the credibility. The corona pandemic is an example of this missed opportunity. The EU had two years to organize the rapid and safe distribution of vaccine doses in Africa.
But it has only delivered 150 million vaccine doses. Eleven percent of people in Africa are vaccinated against the corona virus. Millions of superfluous vaccine doses are wasting away in the EU member states. This is of course a bit of an oversimplification. But somehow it’s still typically European.
SRF 4 News, Echo der Zeit, February 16, 2022, 6:00 p.m.; An analysis by Charles Liebherr