The Africa programme analyses the geopolitics of the Africa-Europe relationship. In particular, the programme delves into relations between the African Union and the European Union to find creative foreign policy tools and strategies. It also focuses on two regions that are particularly relevant for Europe: the Horn of Africa and the Sahel.
Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, Julien Barnes-Dacey, Susi Dennison, Marie Dumoulin, Frédéric Grare, Mark Leonard, Theodore Murphy, José Ignacio Torreblanca
Policy Brief
Middle powers are shaping a fragmented world for which Europe is ill prepared. To protect its interests and values, the EU needs a foreign policy strategy that emphasises its wide range of interdependencies
Services play an increasingly important role in international trade. Improving EU-African trade in services would have wide-ranging benefits for both sides
Sudan needs a viable political pathway to end the military coup of 2021. European states should support pro-democracy actors while encouraging a comprehensive peace process
Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes expose how actors beyond the great powers can weaponise an interdependent global economy. To help overcome this threat, Europeans should advocate cooperation between the US and China
Italy’s much anticipated Africa strategy has some promising elements, but needs broadening if it is to really contribute to Italian, European, and African interests
The EU and Namibia have launched the roadmap of their renewable hydrogen partnership. To ensure it effectively helps the EU’s sustainability goals and boosts Namibia’s economic growth, planning should be clearer and more realistic
The UAE’s expanding role in Africa’s energy spaces could present a challenge to Europe’s energy security and decarbonisation ambitions – but opportunities for cooperation also exist that could accelerate the global energy transition
Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, Julien Barnes-Dacey, Susi Dennison, Marie Dumoulin, Frédéric Grare, Mark Leonard, Theodore Murphy, José Ignacio Torreblanca
Policy Brief
Middle powers are shaping a fragmented world for which Europe is ill prepared. To protect its interests and values, the EU needs a foreign policy strategy that emphasises its wide range of interdependencies
The UN rightly wishes to devolve responsibility for peace support operations to regional partners. But it should draw up novel ways to achieve this in Africa
Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, Julien Barnes-Dacey, Susi Dennison, Marie Dumoulin, Frédéric Grare, Mark Leonard, Theodore Murphy, José Ignacio Torreblanca
Policy Brief
Middle powers are shaping a fragmented world for which Europe is ill prepared. To protect its interests and values, the EU needs a foreign policy strategy that emphasises its wide range of interdependencies
Services play an increasingly important role in international trade. Improving EU-African trade in services would have wide-ranging benefits for both sides
Sudan needs a viable political pathway to end the military coup of 2021. European states should support pro-democracy actors while encouraging a comprehensive peace process
Africa’s new trade agreement promises deep economic integration on the continent – and offers the opportunity for greater African-European cooperation, including on the role trade can play in the green and digital transitions
A closer relationship between Britain, Africa, and the EU would benefit all sides. But this would require the British government to change its approach to Europe as well as to Africa.
Africa’s burgeoning innovation economies offer huge opportunities for the continent – and for Europe as it looks to tackle the climate crisis and respond to China’s BRI global connectivity programme
Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, Julien Barnes-Dacey, Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, Susanne Baumann, Andrew Lebovich, Kadri Liik, Jana Puglierin, Jeremy Shapiro, Andrew Small, Tara Varma
Collection
ECFR’s policy experts examine what the Taliban takeover means for countries and regions around the world: Europe, the US, the Middle East, Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, and the Sahel
Regional organisations have proliferated in Africa, with many organisations attempting to address similar issues in similar parts of the continent. Europeans should take stock of the situation they have helped create.
Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes expose how actors beyond the great powers can weaponise an interdependent global economy. To help overcome this threat, Europeans should advocate cooperation between the US and China
Italy’s much anticipated Africa strategy has some promising elements, but needs broadening if it is to really contribute to Italian, European, and African interests
The EU and Namibia have launched the roadmap of their renewable hydrogen partnership. To ensure it effectively helps the EU’s sustainability goals and boosts Namibia’s economic growth, planning should be clearer and more realistic
The UAE’s expanding role in Africa’s energy spaces could present a challenge to Europe’s energy security and decarbonisation ambitions – but opportunities for cooperation also exist that could accelerate the global energy transition
The UN rightly wishes to devolve responsibility for peace support operations to regional partners. But it should draw up novel ways to achieve this in Africa
The EU could form coalitions with the African Union at G20 summits on a variety of issues. To prepare for this, it should work with both the current and developing representatives of the organisation
The EU and its member states typically refuse to cooperate with unconstitutional governments. But they need to safeguard their security support to Niger to help combat the spread of jihadism in the region and prevent a counter-offer by Wagner
The war in Sudan has given rise to multiple – and sometimes divisive – mediation efforts. The EU and its member states should aim to help unify these efforts and end the warring parties’ ‘forum shopping’
The changing global order has created an enabling environment for the recent spike of takeovers in Africa’s ‘coup belt’ – with Russia and newly assertive middle powers offering themselves as partners to putschists
The EU and its member states should explore opportunities for trilateral energy and climate cooperation with the BRICS and African states, focusing on converging interests to mitigate the risks associated with growing south-south cooperation and a north-south divide
This project maps African regional initiatives in west and central Africa and provides a data-based and a geographical overview of the ‘à la carte’ nature of African regional cooperation
Violence is tearing Mali and the Sahel apart. But who are the armed groups behind the bloodshed? Where are international actors stationed in the region? And what motivates them all?
In November 2022 at COP 27 the European Union and Namibia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing a strategic partnership to develop raw materials…
L’incontro, organizzato dal mensile Africa e Affari, da Confindustria Assafrica e Mediterraneo e da ECFR con il sostegno di Lufthansa Group e di Assolombarda, ha l’obiettivo di analizzare le ragioni politiche dietro il Global Gateway
French Embassy in Berlin, Wilhelmstraße 69, 10117 Berlin
ECFR Berlin
In February 2022, the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU) agreed on a common vision to consolidate a renewed partnership around three pillars:…
NH Brussels EU Berlaymont, Boulevard Charlemagne 11-19, 1000 Brussels
The EU’s publication of the Critical Raw Materials (CRM) Act on 16 March 2023 creates an opportunity to redesign the EU’s relationship with Africa while…
The just-concluded general elections in Nigeria throw-up multiple contradictions. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the declared winner, cannot resolve these by simply waving the proverbial magic wand.
A panel discussion organized in collaboration with the Regional Program Political Dialogue South Mediterranean of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) in the framework of the 8th edition of the Rome MED – Mediterranean Dialogues, promoted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation the Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI)
The event will convene a select group of European decision-makers and opinion-shapers from across business, civil society, European governments and the European Commission
Teresa Coratella comments on Giorgia Meloni’s position in Europe and her political relation with Ursula Von Der Leyen
Algeria wants to finalize long-term contracts that will provide security for the future, while seeking to bolster its status as a credible and serious producer country
Alberto Rizzi comments on Algeria’s attempt to emerge as an energy supplier for the European market
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