EU-Africa Summit Series

On 17th and 18th of February, the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU) met for the long-awaited summit. But since the event was planned back in 2020, the world has been ravaged by a pandemic that has stalled a decade of continuous growth and human capital improvement on the African continent.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Europe’s future wellbeing will depend more and more on the future wellbeing of its closest neighbour, Africa. So, can this summit still do what it originally set out to—and what it must set a course for— and reset the EU’s relationship with Africa as a “true partnership of equals”?

In this blog series, CGD colleagues present proposals on the joint priorities set out by the AU and the EU and offer commentary on whether a meaningful reconstruction of the relationships between the two continents is likely to materialise.

More from the Series

Blog Post
Lagos to Mombasa: Was the AU-EU Summit a Success?
March 10, 2022
Malado Kaba of Falémé Conseil and Inge Kaul of the Hertie School join Gyude to discuss the commitments made at the long-awaited AU-EU summit, the ways in which the participants were portrayed, and whether issues beyond aid, such as research, innovation, and trade, got the attention they deserved.&nb...
Blog Post
AU-EU Summit Takeaways: Five Ways to Turn the Rhetoric of an ‘Equal Partnership’ into Practice
March 03, 2022
What has this year’s EU/AU summit actually achieved in terms of resetting the relationship? And what lessons can be learned from what worked and did not work at the 6th summit to enable the parties to do better at the 7th meeting in two years’ time? 
Blog Post
A Key Decision for EU Donors: Will They Help the African Development Bank Do More Infrastructure Finance?
February 16, 2022
Despite the announcement of the “billions to trillions” vision over six years ago—there is no upward trend in the overall volume of public-private financing for infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa. The EU is region best placed to help change this. 
Blog Post
Upgrading the Africa-EU Digital Relationship
February 15, 2022
Greater integration of Africa and the European Union’s (EU) digital markets would be a boon to both regions. But to achieve this, both regions would have to adapt.