The 6th EU-African Union Summit will take place on February 17 and 18, with the stated ambition of “renewing” a partnership that is over two decades old. This, at a time when the great powers are playing elbows to attract the favour of African countries, writes an EU Reporter correspondent.
This major event is being held in a context marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has severely affected the European and African economies, and highlighted challenges that have already affected the stability and security of some African countries.
As stated by King Mohammed VI of Morocco, “The European Union and the African Union are […] equally important to each other. Equal before the challenges, they are as much before the opportunities and responsibilities”.
All agree on the urgency for the African continent to address the multiple challenges it faces, taking full advantage of its potential and resources, and innovative partnerships with the EU in particular, in a common quest for shared prosperity.
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6th EU-UA summit: the Moroccan experience as a model for a necessary overhaul of the partnership
Since the first Summit of 2000 in Cairo, the relationship between the two continents has continued to evolve. While the EU has expanded from 15 to 28 – and then 27 – members, Africa has also changed profoundly. It has become a crossroads of opportunities, making it necessary to recast the partnership between the two continents. A redesign in this case would be the name of a bold and ambitious change of paradigms, with the ultimate goal of moving away from the outdated and reductive “donor-recipient” and “student-prescriber” schemes.
Among the countries most committed to this line is Morocco. Both in its closeness to the EU, forged over more than 50 years of cooperation and dialogue, and its commitment and anchorage in its African continent, Morocco is at the crossroads of all the paths of the EU-AU partnership. Morocco’s multi-faceted projection on the continent rightly presents a cutting edge and an innovative and pragmatic model on which the EU-AU partnership could usefully be built.
The Abidjan summit is the baptismal font of the new eu-africa partnership strategy.
It is certain that there is no longer any question today of thinking, alone in one’s corner, about a common approach for the coming years. The Abidjan Summit of November 2017 had already placed the EU-AU partnership on an equal footing between partners.
The summit identified key themes, such as youth, investment and job creation, and set them as priorities. The new VON DER LEYEN Commission has rightly capitalized on these orientations, adding other dimensions such as the fight against climate change and the Global Gateway initiative. The strategy for Africa, which was presented by the Commission on March 9, 2020, and updated in the meantime to incorporate the impact of Covid-19, identifies the major priorities that the EU wishes to develop. The convergence is total.
On the African side, the approach of this Summit is pragmatic. African countries, led by Morocco, argue that the partnership must go beyond meetings and political declarations to become more involved in concrete and tangible action that meets the expectations of citizens.
The goal is to establish a Euro-African space of peace, stability and shared prosperity. It is in this spirit that Morocco, at the Kigali Ministerial Meeting of October 2021, supported the Rwandan proposal to create a Ministerial Committee to monitor the implementation of commitments.
Whether it is renewable energy, industrialization, support for youth empowerment, or migration, it is not a matter of prioritizing objectives, but of pursuing them together.
Renewable energy and sustainable agriculture: areas of vital cooperation.
Africa and the EU benefit from combining their comparative and complementary assets to reconcile economic prosperity and sustainable development. It should be recalled that nearly half of all Africans, approximately 600 million, still live without access to electricity. However, to provide access to energy to the entire continent, it is essential to rely on African models already proven.
More than ten years ago, Morocco, under the impetus of King Mohammed VI, set a target of 42% of the country’s electricity production from renewable sources by 2020, rising to 52% by 2030. The launch of a “green partnership” with the EU, on June 28, 2021, is, moreover, the perfect illustration of its commitment in this regard.
In this regard, the European Union could support the strengthening of Morocco’s energy capacity by creating regional hubs in this area; a kind of “regional electricity hub” in Africa, inspired by the “Nord-Pool” network, which exists in northern Europe. It could also combine the expertise of Europe and Morocco in the field of renewable energy to accelerate the electrification, including rural areas in Africa.
Similarly, the continuous evolution of the European regulatory and normative framework relating to the agri-food sector, makes it useful to create a platform for exchange and consultation EU-Africa, likely to accompany this evolution at the African level.
In addition, the experience of Morocco in the development of agriculture and sustainable fisheries, is of interest to several African countries. Indeed, many of them have benefited from Morocco’s expertise, particularly in terms of support to sectors included in the framework of cooperation with the EU. There is a potential for expertise to be put forward in the service of the EU-Morocco-Africa tripartite partnership.
In the same vein, Morocco proposed an initiative for the Adaptation of African Agriculture (AAA) at COP.22 in Marrakech, which was adopted at the continental level. This initiative was announced by King Mohammed VI at the opening of the 2016 “African Action Summit”, held in Marrakech on the sidelines of COP 22: “Sensitive to the vulnerability of the agricultural sector, and aware of its vital importance, Morocco is mobilizing for the realization of the initiative “Adaptation of African Agriculture” or “Triple A”. This innovative scheme promotes the adoption and financing of solutions, aimed at productivity and food security.”
Furthermore, the joint ventures concluded by the OCP Group in Nigeria and Ethiopia constitute a potential for vertical and horizontal integration in this sector. Similarly, under the Green Morocco Plan, Morocco has developed a logic of aggregation and agro-industrial integration, which has produced positive results and can serve as a model.
Joint industrial approach.
The Moroccan new development model is a major step. It has generated an authentically Moroccan federative project, based on a participatory and inclusive approach. Morocco and the EU have the capacity to work hand in hand on strategic issues such as industrial relocation and co-production.
The interest of Europe in the context of its industrial relocation policy, currently under development, is not to be restricted in its purely geographical scope. The pandemic has revealed weaknesses that have require Europe to rethink its industrial production strategy.
In this context, Europe would benefit from involving African partners. Again, the experience of Morocco with many European groups in industry and advanced technology (automotive, aerospace, cabling, etc..), is a capital to fructify.
On January 27, Morocco launched a new industrial unit called “SENSYO PHARMATECH”. Mobilizing eventuallBased on a 500 million euros investment, this new facility partners with the European giant RECIPHARM. Their collaboration will allow the development, the manufacturing and the marketing of pharmaceutical products of great necessity, including vaccines. The new plant, solemnly launched under the auspices of King Mohammed VI, will produce up to 2 billion doses of vaccines by 2025.