• by Timothy Spence (brussels)
• Wednesday, June 01, 2011
• Inter Press Service

Facing unrest in the north and a struggle against poverty elsewhere, leaders of the African Union and their European counterparts are working as 'equal partners' to spread democracy and economic opportunity across the African continent.

Heads of the unions’ executive bodies held two days of talks that were to focus on food security, the economy and human rights. But the discussions were overshadowed by the NATO-led campaign to oust Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and the refugee crisis it has created in southern Europe.

'We had open, frank and intense meetings,' European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said in a joint news conference with his African Union counterpart, Jean Ping.

'This is a new, young Africa and they want the same thing we do - democracy,' said Barroso, adding that 'true stability can only be provided through democracy.'

The commissions met six months after the African-EU summit hosted by Gaddafi in Tripoli, and on the same day that NATO announced a 90-day extension of its bombing campaign against the Libyan leader.

Vowing a 'political solution' to the fighting in Libya, Ping said: 'Libya is part of Africa, and we cannot find a solution that does not involve Africa.'

Although Barroso called the talks one of 'equal partners,' Africa remains heavily dependent on European trade and donations. The EU is the largest provider of development assistance - a record 53.8 billion euros globally in 2010-- and it accounted for 56 percent of aid to the 48 least developed countries, 33 of which are in sub-Saharan Africa.

On Wednesday Barroso announced more help for newly independent South Sudan, bringing total aid to the country to 300 million euros. Responding to rising food prices and regional droughts that have hurt African farmers, the EU recently approved a three-year, one billion-euro programme to boost production and expand financing, infrastructure and storage capacity to support small farmsteads.

Analysts see the partnership between the 27-nation EU and the 53 AU members as vital to tackling Africa’s complex challenges. Europe is often credited with providing resources to strengthen civil society organisations, as well as health and education.

Siphokazi Magadla, a political and international studies lecturer at Rhodes University in South Africa, says development assistance has helped reduce HIV infections, improved conditions for women, and helped expand universal education.

'The political willingness of both donors and African governments has led to these unprecedented achievements in various areas that have changed for the positive the realities of many people in sub- Saharan Africa,' she told IPS.

Still, the European Commission has vowed to review some of the EU’s aid practices amid questions over how the money is used and doubts about the commitment of several European countries to do more.

A European Court of Auditors report recently criticised the effectiveness of some of the one billion euros the EU gives to the United Nations for operations in conflict zones, including Sudan, Somalia and Côte d’Ivoire.

In its report released on May 25, the Luxembourg-based auditors said EU-funded projects were often not completed on time, cost too much and that progress reports were late or too sketchy. The audit focussed on operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan, concluding there was a need for 'ensuring the sound financial management of all funds channelled by the commission through the UN, irrespective of where that aid is delivered.'

Meanwhile, anti-poverty campaigners say the EU should be doing more.

A recent study by CONCORD coalition of advocacy organisations says that despite the nearly 54 billion euros in aid provided by the EU in 2010, its effectiveness is damaged by 'inflated' budgets, a lack of transparency, and the failure of most countries to fulfil commitments. The group said the EU fell 15 million euros short of its pledges in 2010.

EU leaders have committed to providing annual development aid equivalent to 0.51 percent of gross national income (GNI) by 2010, and 0.7 percent by 2015 for the 15 older EU nations. For the 12 nations that have joined the bloc since 2004, the target was 0.17 percent in 2010 and 0.33 percent by 2015.

The current overall rate is 0.43 percent of GNI and the CONCORD group warns that at current levels of spending, aid will barely move beyond that, to 0.45 percent, by 2015.

Europe also faces questions over continued support of repressive regions, a reality driven home by the flip-flop in European-Libyan relations since the Tripoli summit.

The European Commission’s development agency is expected to re-evaluate how its aid is used in countries that violate principles of the 2007 Lisbon summit between European and African leaders, which called for strengthening democracy.

'The aim our of development policy is poverty reduction, and that means we always have to find a way to do something for people on the ground without supporting too much the government of which we may not necessarily approve,' said Klaus Rudischauser, who oversees African affairs for the European development agency’s directorate-general.

'We always have a difficult balance to strike and just to say no money is not necessarily in the interests of those we want to address,' Rudischauser told a news briefing in advance of the African and European commissioners’ meetings.

Aside from development assistance, Rhodes University’s Magadla says the EU has 'betrayed its commitments' to help African countries gain equal footing through the World Trade Organisation’s Doha development agenda.

'Developing countries, mostly African, are under pressure to liberalise their services sector with little regulatory frameworks in places while facing stiff competition in accessing developed countries' agricultural sector,' Magadla wrote to IPS by e-mail.

'I think the conclusion of Doha is perhaps the most decisive contribution the EU can (make to) assist African development, and make reality of the supposed equal partnership that the EU is inculcating with Africa.'

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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