Focus on Africa

At the end of January, Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul informed the European Parliament in Brussels of Germany’s development priorities during the country’s presidency of the EU Council. Before the Development Committee, she said: “The European Union must represent in a credible manner its ideas and views on a fair political, social and economic order – in its overall policy and in its development policy.” The Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA), which the EU is currently negotiating with 78 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP), must be designed to promote development and to integrate developing countries into world trade sustainably and at fair terms. Boosting the effectiveness of development efforts of the European Union was also on the agenda, said the Minister. During the German presidency, practical steps should be taken towards better division of labour within the European Union (also see article below).

Christa Randzio-Plath, Vice-Chair of VENRO, the Association of German Development NGOs, declared herself in favour of extending the EPA negotiations beyond the scheduled date of January 2008 (see also page 94). There must be sufficient time to incorporate mechanisms to protect the economic and rural development of the ACP countries into the agreements, said Randzio-Plath, who was a Member of the European Parliament from 1989 to 2004. Furthermore, African and European civil society must to be able to include their issues in the negotiations to a greater extent. Meanwhile, 180 civil-society organisations and initiatives from all around the world called upon German Chancellor Angela Merkel to use the EU-G8 double presidency to put the EPA negotiations on a development-friendly track. In a public letter to the Chancellor, it stated that Merkel ought to do what she can to see that the negotiations are extended and subjects such as investment protection are crossed off the agenda.
Looking ahead to the Portuguese EU Council presidency in the second half of 2007, the EU and the African Union already began public consultation for a joint EU-Africa strategy in February. The aim of the initiative is to work out a common political vision as well as practical elements for future relations between Europe and Africa. Interested parties are called upon until mid-May to submit their views on topics such as governance, development, trade, peace and security on the internet at http://europafrica.org. The entries will initially be included in a draft strategy, which will be discussed at a ministerial meeting in Brussels on 15 May. The final strategy paper will then be adopted at the EU-Africa summit meeting in Lisbon, which is scheduled for the end of 2007. (ell)