1. EU-AFRICA SUMMIT CAIRO 3-4 APRIL
The first ever EU-Africa Summit took place this week on 3-4 April in Cairo. Attendance of the Summit was high, with 13 of the EU Member States sending heads of states or heads of governments to the Summit. Greece and Great Britain were represented by their foreign ministers. Almost all African countries were represented by their heads of states.
Speeches from African representatives largely focused on Africa’s debt crisis.
The host of the Summit, President Moubarak of Egypt, called on Africa and the EU to seek unconventional solutions to the debt crisis. While no new commitments of debt relief were made by the EU bloc, the Cairo Plan of Action agreed by both parties, states that a bi-regional group at Senior Officials level will prepare a report on the external debt of African countries, which will be studied within a reasonable timeframe at Ministerial level in the framework of the follow-up mechanism of the Summit. Three EU Member States announced initiatives on debt relief. German Chancellor Schroeder, announced a German debt relief package of DM 700 million aimed at easing the debt of 30 of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). President Chirac of France proposed cancelling 100% (instead of 90% announced at the G7 meeting in Cologne last year) of debt owed to France by LDCs. Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar announced the cancellation of the debt owed by sub-Saharan Africa worth US$ 200 million. On the African side, the King of Morocco, Mohamed IV, announced the cancellation of the debt of African LDCs to Morocco. He also lifted custom barriers imposed on products imported from those countries.
At the close of the Summit the President in Office of the OAU, President Mr Bouteflika of Algeria, welcomed the announcements made in favour of the most heavily indebted countries, even though he described it as “’only a drop of water in the dessert”. He expressed his hope that African countries with middle incomes are not neglected. He said the first Summit had enabled a “lucid and objective evaluation” that forces us to recognise that the existing mechanisms have not adequately addressed social degradation in Africa.
The President in Office of the European Council and Prime Minister Antonio Guterres of Portugal, in his closing speech, expressed his acknowledgment of the call by Africa for debt relief. However many on the European side were of the opinion that the Summit should not be presented as a debt summit. A spokesman for EU Commissioner for Development, Poul Nielson, said that though debt is a crucial topic, there was also discussion on human rights, democracy and good governance. The President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi spoke of the EU’s intention of “placing co-operation with Africa at the centre of EU policies” causing surprise among some EU Member States’ delegations.
Africa and the EU failed to come to an agreement on the periodicity of the Summits. While the EU is against the periodicity of summits, it agreed that a second summit be held in Europe in 2003 (possibly Greece). There was also agreement on having regular meetings through a bi-regional group of senior civil servants. Priorities decided by this group will be followed up by EU-Africa ministerial discussions. The main intended output of the Summit was the adoption of the Cairo Declaration, (which constitutes a charter on which EU-Africa dialogue will be based) and a Cairo Plan of Action. The Plan, a twelve-page document, contains only a single line on civil society participation. In order to access the Plan of Action and Declaration see http://ue.eu.int/newsroom/main.cfm?LANG=1
2. AFRICA-EUROPE CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM, LISBON 31 MARCH – 1 APRIL
Representatives from civil society organisations from Europe and Africa met in Lisbon, Portugal on 30 March-1 April for the first Africa-Europe Civil Society Forum. The Forum organised by the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe and facilitated by the European Commission, was intended as a parallel meeting to the EU-Africa Summit taking place in Cairo (See PAFs 173 & 174). The Forum also provided the opportunity to work at building a formal structure for dialogue between European and African civil society.
Though the Forum was supposed to take place in Cairo it was switched to Lisbon after reports that the organisers of the EU-Africa Summit had denied permission for the Forum to be held in Cairo. Despite this hiccup, about 70 representatives of African and EU civil society organisations attended the Forum. This included representatives from four Eurostep organisations – Concern (Ireland), Norwegian Peoples Aid, KEPA (Finland) and OIKOS (Portugal). The Eurostep Secretariat was represented by Guggi Laryea.
Speculation on the reasons why the Forum had been moved to Lisbon dominated early discussions of the meeting. Representatives from both the North South Centre and the Commission stated they were not aware of the reasons why permission had been denied to holding the Forum in Cairo. The Director of the North-South Centre, Mr Jos Lemmers, however informed the Forum meeting that, contrary to earlier reports, the OAU had made it clear that it had not at any point refused to allow the Forum to be held in Cairo. Mr Lemmers also said that Egypt had stated that it was not solely responsible for the decision to change the venue of the Forum. Neither was Algeria, the President in Office of the OAU, as Algeria had hosted earlier preparatory meetings of the Forum.
The Forum like the Summit produced a Declaration with recommendations on EU-Africa co-operation. The Declaration called for poverty eradication to be made the overall objective of EU-Africa co-operation. On debt the Declaration called for the cancellation of the debt of all African countries, without exclusion and without prioritisation/hierarchy. The Declaration also called for coherence of EU policies at international level, pointing out the damage protectionist EU agricultural policies have on Africa. In order to present the Forum’s Declaration to EU and Africa Heads of States, the Forum sent a small delegation to Cairo to present the Declaration to the Presidents of OAU and the EU. For a copy of the Declaration see http://www.nscentre.org/english/opening.htm
At the close of the Forum, representatives of the Eurostep members organisations and the secretariat agreed, together with a small group of representatives from European and African Civil society organisations, to examine a proposal, to look into ways of following up the Forum meeting.
3. LACK OF CONCRETE PROPOSALS IN GENEVA 2000 POLITICAL DECLARATION
This week delegates assembled for the Second Preparatory Committee of the United Nations General Assembly's Special Session (UNGASS). The Committee is responsible for preparing the Geneva 2000 Summit, which will be held in Geneva from 26 till 30 June 2000. The Summit will review the implementation of the Social Summit Commitments adopted by Heads of State in the 1995 Copenhagen Summit and adopt new initiatives on Social Development.
Eurostep is participating in the PrepCom in association with the global coalition - Social Watch. Social Watch, an organisation based in Uruguay, has been monitoring the implementation of Copenhagen commitments by governments over the last five years. Patricia Garce, co-ordinator of Social Watch this week stated, “We believe that the Geneva Summit provides an excellent opportunity to re-examine at the global level what has happened in Seattle. There has to be a serious and substantive analysis of the failures of the macro-economic environment to bring social development. The G-77 has stated that the global free-market is not benefiting countries and people equally." Social Watch is also concerned about the lack of political will to establish concrete and time-bound targets and notes: "while basic data are notoriously insufficient, the figures available are dramatic." It states that much more imaginative action should enter the Political Declaration, particularly in relation to the "monitoring and control of international flows of capital, particularly of speculative capital."
Mirjam van Reisen, a consultant for Eurostep, also stated that, "The international context for social development is a key factor for the eradication of poverty at the national level. There is sufficient analysis available to identify precisely where the international context fails national efforts for poverty eradication. On that basis concrete commitments can and should be made to address the failures in the global macro economic environment." Eurostep’s position paper – “Geneva 2000 World Summit for Social Development: An Agenda for Further Initiatives”, authored by Ms van Reisen, identifies these proposals, which include specific actions on debt, financial regulation, trade and structural adjustment. For more information you may contact the Eurostep Secretariat.