INVITATION: A hard reset for EU-Africa relations? Visegrad perspectives for a post-pandemic era

EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy invites you to the debate on EU-Africa relations. The event is organized by the Think Visegrad platform, which brings together 8 think-tanks from Central Europe. It will take place on Tuesday, May 26th 2020, at 17:00. The event will take place online (via Zoom) and will be broadcasted on Facebook.

• When?  Tuesday, May 26th 2020, at 17:00.

The European Commission unveiled the new EU's Strategy for Africa in early March. The Strategy was supposed to mark the shift towards a more pragmatic and equal partnership with African countries. But the COVID-19 pandemic turned attention away from trade, investments and migration towards mitigating the health crisis in both EU and Africa. The EU will continue to release multi-billion aid, but will that be enough to keep its standing in an ongoing geopolitical competition for the continent? With the looming economic crisis, the EU and the member states may quickly forget about their ambitions, interests, values and solidarity in external relations with Africa. Yet poverty, insecurity, migration and climate challenges will not disappear from one day to another. Quite the contrary, COVID-19 pandemic will deepen them. It is even more urgent for the EU to successfully conclude the ongoing negotiations on the planned Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation instrument (NDICI) that foresaw not less than 30 bn. € . for sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, it needs to carry on with negotiations to replace the rigid and outdated post-colonial institutional architecture of EU-Africa relations for a post-Cotonou era. Last but not least, Visegrad countries now have the best occasion to use their transition experience for building resilient states and societies in Africa.

Confirmend speakers are:

•  Nicole Gerlis Bleier, International Aid / Cooperation Officer, Unit D3, Strategic Partnerships EU-ACP and EU-African Union, DG DEVCO 
•  Ondřej Horký Hlucháň, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of International Relations Prague (Czechia)
•  István Tárrosy, Associate Research Fellow, Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade (Hungary)

The event is available also on Facebook. You can watch our live broadcast on the Facebook page where you can ask speakers questions in the comments section.