The seventh AU-EU Summit, taking place in Luanda, Angola over November 24-25, will not only test the state of relations between the two continents, but will serve as a critical signal to the world on how both are considering multilateralism and international cooperation for development in the broken world we are living in.
A fractured global context
The slogan which came out of the last summit (held in February 2022), “Two Unions, One Vision” quickly started to be questioned, when just a few weeks later, Russia invaded Ukraine, and attitudes to the conflict diverged. The newly launched EU Global Gateway, aimed at launching a vast investment programme in Africa, while appreciated on the African side, has not resulted in a consensus on priorities and projects. The rhetoric around partnership proposed by the Europeans was not supported by the list of projects which emerged, which were perceived—rightly or wrongly—to have been defined by Brussels, rather than together.
Three years later—in the midst of conflicts around the world, aid cuts by major donors, with international trade disrupted, stalled reform of the international financial architecture, and extreme poverty is on the rise in Sub-Saharan Africa—the conference is being held against an even more complex background. Europe’s shifting approach
Today, weakened by internal division and increasingly stuck in the middle of the global power struggle between the US and China, Europe’s relationship with Africa assumes more strategic relevance than ever before.
The EU has signalled it intends to focus on promotion of its own interests: its fight against irregular migration, access to strategic minerals, energy security, and advancing its strategic autonomy. This is a markedly more transactional approach than in the past. This is partly reflective of a shift in European public opinion, a growing part of which is sceptical towards generic solidarity with the Global South, supported by grants.
The EU is consolidating a reset started years ago, aimed at giving greater centrality to the promotion of investments and to the mobilisation of new resources in a more coordinated way. Development aid is increasingly being used as an instrument to leverage and to de-risk private funds. The EU has also created an Investment Hub to coordinate project identification and financing, and serving as a support mechanism for European businesses investing overseas.
Partnerships for development are increasingly complex and multilayered. But the EU has made the Global Gateway the centrepiece of its external engagement strategy without defining what that strategy is.
What is each side bringing to the table?
Africa lies at the heart of almost all global challenges, from extreme poverty to immense growth opportunities and much more. It represents the whole range of challenges, opportunites and risks.
What will African leaders have in mind when they sit down with European colleagues?
Roughly speaking: €500 billion of debt; bonds at 10 percent interest (on average); a lack of meaningful fiscal space to ensure public policies and primary services like health and quality education; the pressure to create 25 million jobs per year to integrate young people ; €170 billion per year needed to fill the infrastructure gap; a dramatic decline of external development funds; food insecurity; climate shocks; uncertainties in international trade.
But Africa is also the continent of opportunities, and hence, Africa is courted by many. However, its capacity to influence big decisions is still limited. There is certainly grounds for pride, but a feeling of fragility also remains.
The EU comes to the summit with a number of positive assets.
The €300 billion of the Global Gateway have been all committed, and Africa got its share of investments as promised. Flagship projects including supporting African laboratories to produce vaccines on the continent, investment in renewable energy production infrastructure and digital interconnections, and (less visible but equally important) mobilising local capital to facilitate investments in local currencies.
The European Commission’s proposals for the next Multiannual Financial Framework includes an increase in external spending—limited in real terms but a signal of the EU’s determination to remain a leading donor at a time of global cuts to development finance. Around 90 percent of this funding continues to count as official development assistance (ODA), allowing the EU to present its growing emphasis on private investment—often backed by public funds—as part of its development agenda. The EU’s aim is to demonstrate that it can be a more effective and reliable partner.
High stakes and shared interests
The stakes are high for both continents. What now links them—beyond the usual rhetoric—is a shared risk of marginalisation in a rapidly changing global order. Africa is rich in strategic materials but largely excluded from the processing and technologies that add value. Europe, meanwhile, faces the enormous task of rebuilding its defence readiness , while also losing economic ground globally despite the strength of its Single Market. The summit is therefore an opportunity to scale up the relationship in the interests of both continents. In a world of fierce competition, it is time to move from partnerships to alliances.
The EU must acknowledge that the achievement of many of its own goals, and its ability to remain a relevant global player, depends in part on the quality of this relationship—and act accordingly.
The European approach appears unfinished: it intends to be a better and more effective partner, but compared to what? Is there a distinct “EU way” that could make partnership with Europe more strategic and genuinely appealing for African counterparts, potentially even paving the way for new forms of alliance?
Here are a few suggestions for action:
First, take the Global Gateway. If it is to be the driving force of the EU’s partnership with Africa, it must move beyond Europe-driven project design and be rooted in African priorities, institutions, and markets. Those local systems should shape the actions needed to make projects genuinely impactful. Each initiative should function as a multilayered compact—investing not only in infrastructure, but also in local capacity, education, civil society, and the public policies that sustain them.
Second, investments should be linked to “friend-shoring” strategies—relocating supply chains to trusted partners such as those in Africa.
Third, set up innovative systems for joint governance. For example:
- Turn the newly created Investment Hub into a Euro–African Investment Hub, open to all those interested and jointly managed;
- Make a share of the European resources available to create a joint EU–Africa de-risking fund, matched by corresponding African resources;
- Set up a mission-oriented EU–Africa platform to steer joint actions (for example vis-à-vis international financial institutions).
A practical, flexible model of cooperation is needed—one that brings together the partners required for each issue, with the aim of enabling Europe and Africa to jointly shape rules and standards in key areas.
Faced with increasingly global and interconnected risks, Africa and Europe can respond by deepening cooperation and mutual trust through concrete joint initiatives. That is the message the next Africa–EU summit should send.
