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This Day 65 Years Ago

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OUTBLOGGING @ ATLANTIC COMMUNITY

THE EU-AFRICA LISBON SUMMIT AND THE FUTURE OF AFRICA

In spite of the high-pitched controversy surrounding the contentious issues of Zimbabwe and Sudan, the 2nd EU-Africa Summit held in Lisbon over the weekend ended with the signing by the leaders of both continents of an “Africa-EU Strategic Partnership”. Prime Minister of Portugal, Jose Socrates, ended the event on a positive note stating that the two continents have opened a new chapter in their relations, "What is important is that we met each other face to face on an equal setting in a new spirit. I think I can say the idea that has been expressed most often is that this summit represents the turning of a page in history," he said.

However, the apparent fallout over the EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) seems to suggest that, if a page in history was indeed turned it might not have been clearly towards a brighter future for either the EU/Africa relations or the African economies in general. In fact, while Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade is reported to have stormed out of the meeting stating that "It's clear that Africa rejects the EPAs. We are not talking any more about EPAs, we've rejected them", European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso emphasised that Brussels was not pressurising African countries over trade, but warned that if no more interim deals take place by year end to avoid trade disruption, "the preferential agreement will no more be applicable from Jan. 1, 2008."

Whatever the outcome of the current deadlock, there are at least two sets of constraints both the EU and African States must address if the “Africa-EU Strategic Partnership” adopted by the Lisbon Summit is to be successfully implemented and any mutual benefits are to be reaped from the relationship between the two continents in years to come. These constraints arise, on the one hand, from the EU institutional approach to Africa and, on the other, from the existing fragmentation of economic spaces in the continent.



The graphs above illustrate the issues: the one on the left is extracted from an EC presentation entitled “EU-Africa Partnership: Lisbon and Beyond”, while the one on the right depicts the existing overlapping African Regional Economic Communities (RECs). It would seem that little needs to be added to these graphs to make the point that neither Africa can be treated “as one”, as desirable as this may be as a long-term goal, nor deeper and wider economic integration can take place in Africa for as long as all the existing RECs are not adequately rationalised.

The EPAs negotiations were expected to be essentially about striking the right balance between costs and benefits for Africa so that its long-term development goals, including the MDGs by 2015, are not jeopardised in the process. All these elements seem to be covered by the newly adopted “Africa-EU Strategic Partnership”. So there seems to be no need to ‘look back in anger’. However, in a wider context, Africa is faced with the challenge of simultaneously liberalising its markets in the context of EPAs and pursuing a path towards deeper regional integration as provided for by the Abuja Treaty, against a backdrop of overlapping memberships of RECs by most Member States. The successful meeting of this challenge is a prerequisite for the emergence of a fully operational African Economic Union, which will certainly be a convenient partner for the EU in a “real relationship of equals” capable of “turning a page in history” as purported by some of the final documents and statements issued by the Lisbon Summit.

[A slightly different version of this article, originally written on 09/12/07, can be found at Atlantic Community and also at the Die Welt Debatte]

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

THE EU-AFRICA LISBON SUMMIT AND THE FUTURE OF AFRICA

In spite of the high-pitched controversy surrounding the contentious issues of Zimbabwe and Sudan, the 2nd EU-Africa Summit held in Lisbon over the weekend ended with the signing by the leaders of both continents of an “Africa-EU Strategic Partnership”. Prime Minister of Portugal, Jose Socrates, ended the event on a positive note stating that the two continents have opened a new chapter in their relations, "What is important is that we met each other face to face on an equal setting in a new spirit. I think I can say the idea that has been expressed most often is that this summit represents the turning of a page in history," he said.

However, the apparent fallout over the EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) seems to suggest that, if a page in history was indeed turned it might not have been clearly towards a brighter future for either the EU/Africa relations or the African economies in general. In fact, while Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade is reported to have stormed out of the meeting stating that "It's clear that Africa rejects the EPAs. We are not talking any more about EPAs, we've rejected them", European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso emphasised that Brussels was not pressurising African countries over trade, but warned that if no more interim deals take place by year end to avoid trade disruption, "the preferential agreement will no more be applicable from Jan. 1, 2008."

Whatever the outcome of the current deadlock, there are at least two sets of constraints both the EU and African States must address if the “Africa-EU Strategic Partnership” adopted by the Lisbon Summit is to be successfully implemented and any mutual benefits are to be reaped from the relationship between the two continents in years to come. These constraints arise, on the one hand, from the EU institutional approach to Africa and, on the other, from the existing fragmentation of economic spaces in the continent.



The graphs above illustrate the issues: the one on the left is extracted from an EC presentation entitled “EU-Africa Partnership: Lisbon and Beyond”, while the one on the right depicts the existing overlapping African Regional Economic Communities (RECs). It would seem that little needs to be added to these graphs to make the point that neither Africa can be treated “as one”, as desirable as this may be as a long-term goal, nor deeper and wider economic integration can take place in Africa for as long as all the existing RECs are not adequately rationalised.

The EPAs negotiations were expected to be essentially about striking the right balance between costs and benefits for Africa so that its long-term development goals, including the MDGs by 2015, are not jeopardised in the process. All these elements seem to be covered by the newly adopted “Africa-EU Strategic Partnership”. So there seems to be no need to ‘look back in anger’. However, in a wider context, Africa is faced with the challenge of simultaneously liberalising its markets in the context of EPAs and pursuing a path towards deeper regional integration as provided for by the Abuja Treaty, against a backdrop of overlapping memberships of RECs by most Member States. The successful meeting of this challenge is a prerequisite for the emergence of a fully operational African Economic Union, which will certainly be a convenient partner for the EU in a “real relationship of equals” capable of “turning a page in history” as purported by some of the final documents and statements issued by the Lisbon Summit.

[A slightly different version of this article, originally written on 09/12/07, can be found at Atlantic Community and also at the Die Welt Debatte]

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

INTERNATIONAL MEETING ON EUROPEAN-AFRICAN RELATIONS

INTERNATIONAL MEETING ON EUROPEAN-AFRICAN RELATIONS
AND
PUBLIC PRESENTATION OF THE CENTRAL LIBRARY OF AFRICAN STUDIES

On occasion of the Europe-Africa Summit, promoted by the Portuguese
presidency of the European Union, the African Studies Centre of
ISCTE-Lisbon and the Central Library of African Studies organize an
International Meeting dedicated to critically discuss European African
relations.

The traumatic and contested memories of the colonial period are today in
an apparent process of pacification that sanitises history, be it through
nostalgia, by new economical assertively, or by the political management
of the growing influx of African immigrants to various European
countries.

A new field of study lies before us that grow beyond classical African
studies (in themselves a heritage of the colonial framework): the study
of African-European relations, based on dialogue and cooperation between
African and European researchers.

The Central Library of African Studies, based at ISCTE, is a general
African studies library for the Social Sciences and the Humanities. It is
the materialization of an old dream of the main Portuguese African
studies centres (CEA-FLUP, CEA-FLUL, CEA-ISCTE, CESA-ISEG and IICT).

The African Studies Centre of ISCTE is a founding member of AEGIS
(African-European Group of Interdisciplinary Studies).

ENCONTRO INTERNACIONAL SOBRE RELAÇÕES EUROPA-ÁFRICA
E
APRESENTAÇÃO PÚBLICA DA BIBLIOTECA CENTRAL DE ESTUDOS AFRICANOS
ISCTE

Por ocasião da Cimeira Europa-África, promovida pela presidência
portuguesa da União Africana, o Centro de Estudos Africanos do ISCTE-
Lisboa e a Biblioteca Central de Estudos Africanos organizam um
Encontro Internacional dedicado a uma reflexão crítica das relações entre
a Europa e a África.

As memórias traumáticas e mutuamente contestadas do período colonial
sofrem hoje um processo de aparente pacificação que redunda na
higienização da história, seja por via da nostalgia, por novas
assertividades económicas, ou pela gestão política do crescente influxo
de imigrantes africanos a vários países europeus.

A constatação desta realidade abre um novo campo de investigação: já não
apenas os estudos africanos (em si, uma herança da mentalidade colonial),
mas o estudo das relações Europa-África, num contexto de diálogo e
cooperação entre os investigadores africanos e europeus.

A Biblioteca Central de Estudos Africanos, sediada no ISCTE, é uma
biblioteca de estudos gerais africanos nas áreas das ciências sociais e
humanidades. É a materialização de um projecto antigo dos principais
centros de investigação em estudos africanos portugueses (CEA-FLUP,
CEA-FLUL, CEA-ISCTE, CESA-ISEG e IICT).

O Centro de Estudos Africanos do ISCTE é membro fundador do AEGIS
(African-European Group of Interdisciplinary Studies).

[PROGRAMA]

INTERNATIONAL MEETING ON EUROPEAN-AFRICAN RELATIONS
AND
PUBLIC PRESENTATION OF THE CENTRAL LIBRARY OF AFRICAN STUDIES

On occasion of the Europe-Africa Summit, promoted by the Portuguese
presidency of the European Union, the African Studies Centre of
ISCTE-Lisbon and the Central Library of African Studies organize an
International Meeting dedicated to critically discuss European African
relations.

The traumatic and contested memories of the colonial period are today in
an apparent process of pacification that sanitises history, be it through
nostalgia, by new economical assertively, or by the political management
of the growing influx of African immigrants to various European
countries.

A new field of study lies before us that grow beyond classical African
studies (in themselves a heritage of the colonial framework): the study
of African-European relations, based on dialogue and cooperation between
African and European researchers.

The Central Library of African Studies, based at ISCTE, is a general
African studies library for the Social Sciences and the Humanities. It is
the materialization of an old dream of the main Portuguese African
studies centres (CEA-FLUP, CEA-FLUL, CEA-ISCTE, CESA-ISEG and IICT).

The African Studies Centre of ISCTE is a founding member of AEGIS
(African-European Group of Interdisciplinary Studies).

ENCONTRO INTERNACIONAL SOBRE RELAÇÕES EUROPA-ÁFRICA
E
APRESENTAÇÃO PÚBLICA DA BIBLIOTECA CENTRAL DE ESTUDOS AFRICANOS
ISCTE

Por ocasião da Cimeira Europa-África, promovida pela presidência
portuguesa da União Africana, o Centro de Estudos Africanos do ISCTE-
Lisboa e a Biblioteca Central de Estudos Africanos organizam um
Encontro Internacional dedicado a uma reflexão crítica das relações entre
a Europa e a África.

As memórias traumáticas e mutuamente contestadas do período colonial
sofrem hoje um processo de aparente pacificação que redunda na
higienização da história, seja por via da nostalgia, por novas
assertividades económicas, ou pela gestão política do crescente influxo
de imigrantes africanos a vários países europeus.

A constatação desta realidade abre um novo campo de investigação: já não
apenas os estudos africanos (em si, uma herança da mentalidade colonial),
mas o estudo das relações Europa-África, num contexto de diálogo e
cooperação entre os investigadores africanos e europeus.

A Biblioteca Central de Estudos Africanos, sediada no ISCTE, é uma
biblioteca de estudos gerais africanos nas áreas das ciências sociais e
humanidades. É a materialização de um projecto antigo dos principais
centros de investigação em estudos africanos portugueses (CEA-FLUP,
CEA-FLUL, CEA-ISCTE, CESA-ISEG e IICT).

O Centro de Estudos Africanos do ISCTE é membro fundador do AEGIS
(African-European Group of Interdisciplinary Studies).

[PROGRAMA]

FIRST BLACK CITIZEN ELECTED TO SWISS PARLIAMENT IS ANGOLAN

Switzerland has just elected its first Black MP and he happens to be of Angolan origin!
According to TimesOnline, "the first black MP in Switzerland said yesterday he was worried about the direction of his country after an election that was won by a right-wing party with a strident anti-immigration message."
Ricardo Lumengo, who fled Angola as a student activist in 1982 and was elected to parliament in Sunday’s vote, said he feared that other political refugees would be turned away in the current climate of hostility towards foreigners. Mr Lumengo, 45, told The Times that he felt singled out personally by a controversial poster at the heart of the campaign by the Swiss People’s Party, which showed three white sheep kicking a black sheep off the Swiss flag.
The SVP consolidated its position as the biggest party in parliament in the elections, partly at the expense of Mr Lumengo’s Social Democrats, and is planning to press ahead with tougher immigration laws. It maintained that the poster was not racist but illustrated its proposed policy of ejecting foreign criminals.
“We do not like it that people abroad see us as against foreigners. I am proof that not all of Switzerland thinks like that,” said Mr Lumengo, who trained as a lawyer in Switzerland and completed the tests for his Swiss passport in 1997.
He said: “I have had a good experience in Switzerland for 25 years but the situation has changed and I feel I would have difficulties if I came now. There is a tension, a conflict now between foreigners and Swiss. Other politicians are talking irresponsibly by suggesting that foreigners are responsible for all the country’s problems. We, the Socialists, are worried that this is the wrong direction for the country.”
Mr Lumengo said he hoped that his election as an MP would be “a symbol showing many things”, including that Switzerland was not a racist country. “There are people who are building another Switzerland, a Switzerland of tolerance and a Switzerland of dialogue,” he said.

ALL THE BEST TO MR. LUMENGO IN HIS POLITICAL CAREER ARE MY WISHES!

Switzerland has just elected its first Black MP and he happens to be of Angolan origin!
According to TimesOnline, "the first black MP in Switzerland said yesterday he was worried about the direction of his country after an election that was won by a right-wing party with a strident anti-immigration message."
Ricardo Lumengo, who fled Angola as a student activist in 1982 and was elected to parliament in Sunday’s vote, said he feared that other political refugees would be turned away in the current climate of hostility towards foreigners. Mr Lumengo, 45, told The Times that he felt singled out personally by a controversial poster at the heart of the campaign by the Swiss People’s Party, which showed three white sheep kicking a black sheep off the Swiss flag.
The SVP consolidated its position as the biggest party in parliament in the elections, partly at the expense of Mr Lumengo’s Social Democrats, and is planning to press ahead with tougher immigration laws. It maintained that the poster was not racist but illustrated its proposed policy of ejecting foreign criminals.
“We do not like it that people abroad see us as against foreigners. I am proof that not all of Switzerland thinks like that,” said Mr Lumengo, who trained as a lawyer in Switzerland and completed the tests for his Swiss passport in 1997.
He said: “I have had a good experience in Switzerland for 25 years but the situation has changed and I feel I would have difficulties if I came now. There is a tension, a conflict now between foreigners and Swiss. Other politicians are talking irresponsibly by suggesting that foreigners are responsible for all the country’s problems. We, the Socialists, are worried that this is the wrong direction for the country.”
Mr Lumengo said he hoped that his election as an MP would be “a symbol showing many things”, including that Switzerland was not a racist country. “There are people who are building another Switzerland, a Switzerland of tolerance and a Switzerland of dialogue,” he said.

ALL THE BEST TO MR. LUMENGO IN HIS POLITICAL CAREER ARE MY WISHES!