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Development Cooperation / Policy Brief

A crucial moment in EU-Africa relations

26/05/2010 By Oladiran W. Bello

The Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) launched by European and African leaders at the Lisbon summit of 2007 has so far failed to deliver on its key promise to fundamentally transform the two continents’ development and political cooperation. Three years of uncertain implementation has revealed just how wide a gap separates the rhetoric and reality of the new strategic partnership. 

In spite of regional and global transformations forcing a review of relations – including shrinking Western development budgets hit by the global economic downturn and growing challenges to Europe’s traditional role in Africa by new powers like China – both continents have yet to face up to pertinent questions in fast evolving inter-continental relations.

Regardless of the compelling strategic backdrop, there is no clear agreement on how to operationalise the Joint Strategy, or even implementation of proposals across eight different thematic partnerships.

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Keywords

Civil society Democratisation EU Peacebuilding Post conflict

Bio author: Oladiran W. Bello

Oladiran Bello holds PhD and MPhil degrees in International Relations from the University of Cambridge. His research interests and publications cover African international relations (the Great Lakes region and EU-Africa relations), international political economy (natural resource governance, transnational elites and economic interests), as well as state fragility, political transition and peace building.