Refocusing the Africa-EU strategy

The document critiques the European Union's proposed priority areas for the Africa-EU strategy, noting that it overlooks critical issues from the Abidjan Declaration and AU Agenda 2063. It highlights gaps in addressing poverty, healthcare, transport infrastructure, and internet access, while emphasizing that debt relief in response to COVID-19 will be a critical test for the partnership.

• The EU's proposed priority areas for the Africa-EU strategy—green transition and energy access, digital transformation, sustainable growth and jobs, peace and governance, and migration and mobility—do not adequately cover essential issues like poverty, health, transport infrastructure, and internet access, nor do they sufficiently reflect the Abidjan Declaration or AU Agenda 2063.
• Poverty eradication is a critical priority for Africa, with over 70% of the world's poorest people living on the continent, yet the EU communication mentions poverty only once in its main text.
• Africa faces a severe health crisis, carrying 23% of the global disease burden while accounting for only 1% of global health expenditure, and spends five times its healthcare budget on debt servicing.
• Despite the EU's focus on digital transformation, internet access remains a major gap; Africa ranks lowest globally for online access and requires an investment of US$100 billion by 2030 to achieve affordable, high-quality access.
• Debt relief is identified as a critical 'litmus test' for the Africa-EU partnership, as COVID-19 has triggered the first recession in over 25 years in sub-Saharan Africa, with total foreign debt estimated at US$417 billion.

APA

Abebe, T. T., & Maalim, H. (n.d.). Refocusing the Africa-EU strategy. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/refocusing-the-africa-eu-strategy

Chicago

Abebe, Tsion Tadesse, and Hafsa Maalim. Refocusing the Africa-EU strategy. Institute for Security Studies, n.d. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/refocusing-the-africa-eu-strategy.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Abebe |first1=Tsion Tadesse |last2=Maalim |first2=Hafsa |title=Refocusing the Africa-EU strategy |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |url=https://issafrica.org/iss-today/refocusing-the-africa-eu-strategy |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{abebendrefocusing, author = {Abebe, Tsion Tadesse and Maalim, Hafsa}, title = {{Refocusing the Africa-EU strategy}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.org/iss-today/refocusing-the-africa-eu-strategy}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }