The EU and Africa [What Think Tanks are thinking]

Background

As the EU and Africa prepared in 2017 to redefine their priorities for cooperation the fifth African Union - European Union (AU-EU) summit was scheduled to take place on the 29-30 November 2017 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast).

The summit was due to focus on the need to invest in youth. The issue had become prominent against the background of demographic growth in Africa and increasing irregular migration from the continent to Europe.

In this context the European Parliamentary Research Service published in November 2017 a number of background information guides on aspects of EU-Africa relations and the work of the African Union:

+ New priorities for EU–Africa cooperation
+ The African Union: Defending peace, democracy and human rights
+ Economic integration under the African Union
+ Actions of the African Union against coups d'état
+ Empowering Africa's youth: The new focus of EU-Africa cooperation
+ ACP-EU relations and the Joint Africa-EU strategy
+ The Pan-African Parliament: getting ready for the 2017 AU-EU Summit
+ ACP-EU relations and the Joint Africa-EU strategy
+ The EU and Africa [What Think Tanks are thinking]The European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU) would hold their fifth summit on 29-30 November 2017 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, with the aim of strengthening political and economic relations between the two continents. The focus of the meeting was on investing in youth, which was a priority for Africa, where 60% of the population was under the age of 25. Other key topics included security, governance and democracy, human rights, migration and mobility, as well as investment and trade, skills development and job-creation.

Relations between Africa and the European Union were governed by partially overlapping policy frameworks. The most important ones are the EU-ACP Cotonou Agreement from 2000 and the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) agreed in 2007. Relations with Northern African countries were governed by the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EUROMED) launched in 2008 and the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP).

This note offered links to a series of recent studies from major international think tanks and research institutes on EU-African relations and other issues related to the continent and its countries.

More reports on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) could be found in a previous edition of ‘What Think Tanks are Thinking’ published in October 2017.

Compiled by Marcin Grajewski