Sixth EU-AU Summit: the starting point of the European-African neighbourhood
The European Union and the African Union will meet again on 17-18 February 2022 for their sixth summit. The aim of the summit will be to reinforce and establish the joint basis for partnership between the two organisations, as well as to strengthen mutual trust and understanding.
In this way, the summit will be an optimal opportunity to continue building a neighbourhood model in which the implementation of an ambitious Africa-Europe investment package is expected to go some way towards alleviating the main challenges facing global society: climate change and the current health crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
It will also seek to find solutions that promote security and stability at a time when the Sahel is heavily affected by the presence of various jihadist groups. This threat is one of the main causes of destabilisation in the region and its rapid advance is currently worrying the international community. For this reason, and with the aim of promoting stability and security, both organisations will try to orchestrate a new, renewed model of peace and security.
To try to achieve these objectives, the summit will have different thematic roundtables to discuss agriculture and sustainable development, strengthening the health system, financing growth, peace and security, governance and climate change, among others.
This summit is preceded by the fifth meeting between the African Union and the European Union held in 2017 in Abidjan, the economic capital of Côte d'Ivoire. There, the leaders managed to adopt a Joint Declaration in which the priorities of the EU-Africa partnership were shared in four areas, namely economic opportunities for youth, peace and security, mobility, migration and cooperation on governance.
Africa and the European Union have been cooperating assiduously since 2007, when a formal path was adopted to boost the European Union's relations with the countries of the African continent.
Africa's proximity and closeness to Europe led to the implementation of a common roadmap capable of providing solutions and strategies to global challenges and obstacles. In this sense, the reality that global society is going through today with the world health crisis has demonstrated the interdependence that exists between the two continents and the importance of taking advantage of joint action to ensure that the consequences of this crisis are as small as possible.
On the other hand, one of the main challenges that will affect both continents and for which it is necessary to lay common foundations is the demographic challenge. Africa, with a percentage of young people twice that of Europe, faces an important economic and educational challenge that will have to be able to meet the population's demands in these two areas. However, the climate crisis, together with the health and political crises, are slowing down this process further. Meanwhile, the African continent continues to face an increasingly worrying demographic challenge which, if not resolved, could lead to major waves of immigration affecting both Africa and Europe.
Moreover, terrorism and instability are problems that have similarly become common threats. Jihadism has already shown that it knows no borders, and all this is further aggravated by the withdrawal of Western troops from the Sahel, which directly affects the stability of the countries in the region.
However, despite these problems and the climate and economic crisis, Africa remains a continent rich in raw materials. It also has significant potential in technological development and renewable energies, something that can be transformed into joint priorities for both continents. Thus, this new summit promises to be an opportunity to promote multilateralism and joint action to create an intercontinental partnership that demonstrates the added value of the EU's external action.
