Views from the Center

With both the United States and China emerging as spoilers in the international system, Africa’s efforts to increase its economic power will only succeed if met with a more expansive European foreign policy, backed by an increase in resources to match such ambitions.

Earlier this month three future European Union (EU) Commissioners were given the green light by legislators to lead the migration portfolio—despite the fact that the confirmation of the entire Commission is still pending.

The Alliance aims to deepen economic relations between the two continents by boosting private investment and trade. The Commission is billing the proposals as a “radical shift” in the EU’s approach to development cooperation in Africa that will take the relationship “to the next level.” Implicit in the sound bites is the EU’s ambition to rival the growing influence of China, whose vast programme of investment on the continent has left other donors scrambling to catch up. But is the Alliance actually anything new? And does it have the potential to reposition the EU as Africa’s leading development partner?