Josep Borrell eudebates EU-AFRICA relations with AUC Chairman Moussa Faki

The EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell is in Ethiopia to foster closer links with the African Union.

The EU’s top diplomat arrived in the Ethiopian capital on Thursday hoping to inject fresh momentum into Europe’s plan for a new era of cooperation on digital, the environment and economic policy.

He might have to wait a while longer.
Josep Borrell's trip to the headquarters of the African Union is the first by a high-ranking EU official since the pandemic took hold in March, soaking up diplomatic bandwidth. It is an attempt to push forward the European Commission's Africa pivot which was set in train in December by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who made Ethiopia the venue for her first foreign visit in post.

In meetings with African Union Chairperson Moussa Faki, his deputy Thomas Kwesi Quartey and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Borrell extended an invitation to African leaders to hold an informal in-person meeting with national EU leaders before the end of the year on debt relief. He also brought with him nearly a million COVID-19 test kits for distribution by the AU.

“I would expect him [Borrell] to be exploring and testing the waters a bit to see where there’s a real common ground to be found.” — Alfonso Medinilla, policy officer at the European Centre for Development Policy Management

Abiy is among a growing chorus of African leaders calling on the G20 to go beyond placing a moratorium on debt payments and provide a full haircut on the overall burden, a request which has won a sympathetic hearing from France and Spain.

Three officials briefed on the plans said a high-level meeting is tentatively scheduled for December and would include all 27 heads of state and government from Europe and dozens more from Africa as well as representatives from Africa’s regional economic communities.

How to help Africa recover from a deep economic crisis caused by the pandemic and regional integration through the Africa Continental Free Trade Area — which is set to be launched on January 1 — will also be on the agenda, the officials said.

The EU-AU Summit originally scheduled for this month has now been pushed back until the first half of next year, the officials said.

Not all of Borrell’s charm offensive was welcome though. Part of the EU’s Africa strategy is to ensure its so-called Green Deal — a strategy aimed at transitioning toward more environmentally friendly economies — becomes part of alliances forged with partners abroad. African countries, however, view the deal with skepticism because of fears it will impose costs on achieving the economic growth needed to pull citizens out of poverty.

“In the end, the actual interests are not necessarily fully aligned," said Alfonso Medinilla, a policy officer specializing on Africa at the European Centre for Development Policy Management, speaking about Europe’s environmental ambitions abroad. “I would expect him [Borrell] to be exploring and testing the waters a bit to see where there’s a real common ground to be found.”

Borrell on Thursday sought to convince Faki that joining Europe on its green revolution was also in Africa’s interests, two officials briefed on the talks said.

“I know that many Africans, like a significant number of Europeans, fear that going down this road will hamper their economic development. For my part, I am convinced of the exact opposite,” Borrell wrote in an essay this week.

“It is only if Africa manages to avoid the mistakes that we Europeans have made for two centuries in terms of damage to the environment that it will be able to offer a future for its inhabitants with a sufficient number of jobs,” he added.

One EU official said it was understandable that Africa is “not going to embrace it [the Green Deal] wholeheartedly straight away,” while an AU official said the deal “is all EU — a continent of emitters.”