Αρχική σελίδα

Welcome from the Chair

Welcome to the site of the European Parliament's Delegation for relations with the Pan-African Parliament (DPAP).

EU relations with Africa and the African Union are at a crossroads. Development issues, trade, investments, job creation climate change, demographic questions, security management, globalisation and migration are just a few of the common challenges that could benefit from closer cooperation between the two continents.

Since 2007, Africa and the EU have adopted a Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) to pave the way to set more common priorities. Roadmaps have been developed every three years at the Africa-EU Summits of Heads of State and Government meeting to guide the implementation of the objectives.

The commitments made jointly at the Summit of November 2017 in Abidjan should take us further. During the subsequent three-year period, relations with Africa will have to be re-designed, and a new forum developed, as the Cotonou Partnership Agreement ends in February 2020. The European Parliament should ensure a coherent approach in the parliamentary extension of both processes.

In addition to our delegation meetings within the European Parliament, each year we attend one of the two sessions of the Pan-African Parliament in Midrand, South Africa. Our last visit, from 16 to 18 May 2018, focused on the 2018-2020 JAES Roadmap, the implementation of the revised PAP Protocol of Malabo of 2014, the Post-Cotonou process, security cooperation between the AU and the EU. The Delegation also participated in a Conference on challenges and opportunities of migration flows.

Another aspect of the parliamentary extension of EU-African Union relations is the parliaments' advocacy role, notably in the margins of important meetings (such as Ministerial encounters).

Michael Gahler