GOALS AND PRINCIPLES IN PARTNERSHIP RELATIONS BETWEEN THE EU AND THE AFRICAN UNION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17721/apmv.2017.130.0.4-12Abstract
The African continent has traditionally been considered as Europe’s ‘backyard’. The Africa – EU partnership framework was established at the Africa – EU Summit in Cairo in 2000. In 2005 the European Commission issued a renovated EU Strategy for Africa aimed to establish a Euro-African pact to accelerate Africa’s development. Since then a considerable change has taken place on both continents, which challenge the way Africa and Europe perceive each other. On 29th June 2016 the African Union Commission and the EU signed the third phase of the African Union Support Programme.
The goals of the EU – AU strategic partnership relations envisage a wide range of priorities in different areas including enhanced political dialogue, development assistance, joint management and joint responsibility, security cooperation, regulation of migrations, promotion of trans-regional projects etc. The joint EU – AU documents strengthen upon bilateral cooperation in addressing global issues, distributing burdens, mutual accountability, solidarity and mutual trust, equality and justice, respect for international law and agreements, gender equality and non-discrimination. However the actual results of interaction in such priority areas as peace and security, democracy, good governance and human rights, sustainable and inclusive development, economic growth, human development and continental integration remain rather low.
Thus the European political experts often speculate on the ineffectiveness of the EU’s concept of normative power and external governance attempts in relation to the African states.
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