European Commission wants to make Africa a priority

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, December 4, 2019. REUTERS / Francois Lenoir

Text by: RFI Follow

Ursula von der Leyen had chosen Ethiopia for her first official trip and at the end of February, she returned there with this time almost all of her Commission, to the headquarters of the African Union. The European Commission is preparing to present its vision for a renewed partnership with the African continent. RFI was able to browse the document before its publication.

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With our correspondent in Brussels, Joana Hostein

The new European Commission wants to make Africa one of its priorities : Ursula von der Leyen, its president, made it known when she took office. Development aid is over, and today is the place for a strategic partnership between the European Union and the African continent. A strategy "with" Africa and not "for" Africa. So much for the rhetoric that aims to be resolutely new.

Basically, the European Commission highlights five priority areas for cooperation: ecological transition, employment for young people and women, migration, security and the digital transition. Digital, a source of growth and jobs for the 20 million young Africans who access the job market every year, details the Commission document in particular.

No new budgetary envelope in this strategy but a will of Europeans to position themselves in Africa, while China, the United States, Russia, India or the Gulf countries are more and more present on the continent . And the Commission recalls that the European Union remains by far the main investor in Africa with in 2016, 220 million euros of investment against 42 for the United States and 38 for the Chinese.

► Read again: Africa, a continent "with immense ambition", according to Ursula von der Leyen

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  • European Union
  • Cooperation and Development
  • Ursula von der Leyen

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