7 EU Strategy for Africa
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13293/05
COM(05) 489
+ ADD1
| Commission Communication: EU Strategy for Africa: Towards a Euro-African Pact to Accelerate Africa's development
Presidency, Council and Commission Report: The EU and Africa: Towards a Strategic Partnership — The Way Forward and Key Achievements in 2006
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| Legal base | — |
| Department | International Development
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| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 27 March 2007
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| Previous Committee Reports | HC 41- vii (2006-07), para 7 (24 January 2007), HC 34-i (2005-06), para 4 (4 July 2005), HC 34-v (2005-06), paras 3 and 4 (12 October 2005), HC 34-vii (2005-06), para 3 (26 October 2005) and HC 34-xii (2005-06) para 9 (30 November 2005) and HC 34-xv (2005-06), para 12 (18 January 2006)
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| Discussed in Council | 14-15 December 2006 European Council
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared (reported to the House on 30 November 2005). Now considered relevant to the debate on the Commission Communication on an EU Code of Conduct on Division of Labour in Development Policy.
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Background
7.1 The Communication is the Commission's response to the instruction
from the June 2005 European Council to draw up a long-term global
strategy on Africa by the December 2005 European Council. The
UN Millennium Development Goals[17]
are at the heart. The Communication suggests that the EU should
focus its support in areas considered essential for attaining
the MDGs (peace and security and good governance), areas that
create the economic environment necessary for achieving the MDGs
(economic growth, trade and interconnection) and areas directly
targeting the MDGs (social cohesion, decent work, gender equality
and environment). These areas should be supplemented by support
for economic integration and political cooperation with the EU.
The African Union's (AU) "Peace Facility for Africa"
should be replenished and strengthened to allow it better to support
Africa's own efforts in this field.
7.2 The Communication includes a range of possible approaches
in different areas, such as: good governance, respect for human
rights and the fight against corruption; economic growth including
trade and private sector development; support to increasing competitiveness
of African agriculture; establishing an EU-Africa Partnership
for Infrastructure; enhanced support for basic service provision
in social sectors and further support for tackling poverty diseases;
Migration; core labour standards; environment and climate change.
Previous consideration of the Communication
7.3 When the Committee finally cleared it on 30 November 2005,
it was clear the process of turning the Commission's overlong
Communication into an effective Strategy was moving forward constructively.
We asked the Secretary of State for further clarification and
to let us know the outcome of the December European Council. His
9 January 2006 letter enclosed the final Strategy and answered
these questions as effectively as he could at that stage.
7.4 A major common theme running through the large number of development
assistance-related documents that we considered in 2005 and 2006
was dramatically increasing the effectiveness of, in particular,
EC aid — which meant dramatically improving the effectiveness
of the EU's activities in Africa.[18]
Hence the importance of the Africa Strategy.
7.5 In this regard we said that even a superficial examination
revealed the breadth and depth of its ambitions. The question
now was: to what extent were these vital ambitions likely to be
achieved? Effective implementation would demand an unprecedented
level and effectiveness of cooperation between Member States and
the Commission, and between them and the UN, the African Union,
the International Financial Institutions and other bilateral donors;
pose unprecedented challenges for European Security and Defence
Policy; require an unprecedented level of commitment and delivery
on the part of African partners; and, above all, require the EU
to "put its money where its mouth is".
7.6 We also noted that it was unclear at that time whether any
follow-up work would be such as to require scrutiny, at least
ahead of the first formal review by the 14-15 December 2006 European
Council; which latter we envisaged being prepared by the autumn
2006 "Development" GAERC, in connection with which we
anticipated a Commission document of some sort and an Explanatory
Memorandum.
7.7 Instead, the Minister for Europe at the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (Mr Geoffrey Hoon) wrote on 8 January 2007 in connection
with a joint Presidency, Commission and Council Secretariat progress
report — "The EU and Africa: Towards a Strategic Partnership
— The Way Forward and Key Achievements in 2006" —
which was presented to the December European Council, whose Conclusions
in turn reaffirmed "its earlier commitment to work towards
a joint EU-Africa strategy and underlined the importance of monitoring
progress towards all of the EU's commitments to Africa including
the 2005 aid volume targets".
7.8 We noted with surprise that someone as experienced as the
Minister for Europe, along with his counterpart at the Department
for International Development, should have overlooked our clearly
expressed expectation that whatever document informed the December
European Council discussion of the Strategy would be deposited
together with an Explanatory Memorandum ahead of the Council's
consideration of it. We felt that the timing and format of his
somewhat brief exposition and analysis was a poor substitute:
sight of the report along with an Explanatory Memorandum would
have given the House considerably more insight into not only what
has, but also what has not, been achieved thus far, as well as
what is further envisaged in this Strategic Partnership.
7.9 For the future, we said that we expected the next and subsequent
annual progress reports to be deposited in good time ahead of
the relevant Council so that they can be properly scrutinised.
7.10 We also looked forward to scrutinising the Joint Strategy
encompassing joint commitments to which the Minister referred,
ahead of any endorsement at an EU-Africa Summit.
7.11 Finally, we discussed scrutiny of the EU Africa process,
and the review of progress against the EU and Africa: Towards
a Strategic Partnership, with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary
at the Department for International Development (Mr Gareth Thomas)
at an evidence session on 7 March,[19]
in response to which he undertook to send us a further letter.
The Minister's letter
7.12 The Minister begins by apologising for not providing the
Committee with the information that we expected prior to the December
European Council. He says:
"Our intention was certainly to engage vigorously with
Parliament on issues relating to the EU and Africa. While we set
out our views on the Commission and Council Secretariat's own
progress report during the Lords debate on November 30 2006, following
the Lords inquiry and follow up report, we did not write to the
Commons Committee on the issue before the Council and for this
I apologise".
7.13 Turning to the Minister for Europe's letter after the December
Council attaching the final public document — The EU
and Africa: Towards a Strategic Partnership — The Way Forward
and Key Achievements in 2006 — the Minister says that
it included Member State inputs collected during October and November
by the Commission. He explains that follow up to the EU's Strategy
for Africa is led jointly by the Department for International
Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office because the
Strategy includes political, security and development aspects;
that correspondence to Parliament on this topic has issued jointly
from the International Development Secretary and Lord Triesman
as Africa Minister, "to reflect this and the close working
relationship across Whitehall on this set of policies"; that
the January letter issued from the Minister for Europe because
it conveyed the outcome of the December European Council but was
written with full knowledge and input from DFID officials; and
that in future he will "aim to send updates under joint signatures
wherever possible on correspondence to Parliament pertaining to
the EU Africa Strategy".
7.14 He then says that he would like to clarify expectations on
scrutiny of the EU Africa Strategy during 2007 as follows:
"I propose that the Government write to the Committees
once the Commission and Council Secretariat have published their
expected joint review of progress. The Government will then forward
the finally agreed review of progress after the relevant Council.
In respect of the proposed Joint EU Africa Strategy to be approved
at an EU Africa Summit, and scrutiny of any such document, we
hope to be able to forward an outline of the Strategy once this
has been agreed with the African Union later this year. We will
keep the Committees informed of progress".
7.15 Finally, as promised, he provides further information on
the 2006 Review in a separate enclosure, which is annexed to our
Report.
Conclusions
7.16 We are grateful to the Minister for this further information,
which we are reporting to the House because of the widespread
interest in development issues and Africa, and which we consider
relevant to the debate that we have recommended elsewhere in this
Report on the Commission Communication on an "EU Code of
Conduct on Division of labour in Development Policy".[20]
7.17 We are also content with the arrangements that the Minister
proposes with regard to future scrutiny of the EU-Africa Strategy.
17
The eight UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are those that,
in 2000, the UN set itself to achieve, most by 2015: eradicate
extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education;
promote gender equality; reduce child mortality; improve maternal
health; combat HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental
sustainability; and develop a partnership for development - each
with associated targets and benchmarks to measure progress. Back
18
See in particular (27333) 7066/06, (27334) 7067/06 and (27335)
7068/06: HC 34-xxxi (2005-06), para 19 (14 June 2006) on "Making
EU aid more effective" and (28201) 17033/06, HC 41-vii (2006-07)
para 3 (24 January 2007) on the Special Framework of Assistance
for Traditional Suppliers of Bananas. Back
19
The Special Framework of Assistance for traditional suppliers
of bananas, HC 387-i Back
20
See para 1 of this report. Back
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