Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-24-Speech-3-346"
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"en.20071024.40.3-346"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Maria Martens’s report contains a number of interesting recommendations, though I have to admit that my Group has a bit of a problem with the rather negative undertone and the lack of a clear, coherent vision for the future in the report.
Seven years after the first summit in Cairo, the Portuguese Presidency together with the Commission is trying to draw up a new EU-Africa strategy in an – I really do think – honest attempt to divest themselves of the old model of donors and beneficiaries. The fact that this summit is taking place is extremely important, and not only for negative reasons, not only out of an anxious reaction to the growing influence of China.
On the contrary, the growing realisation on both sides that Europe and Africa are no longer each other’s exclusive preferential partners creates a unique opportunity to develop a totally new, more balanced relationship. At first sight the water between Europe and Africa does not look all that deep. It is essential for Africa that each new partnership should get away from the traditional aid dependency and the culture of charity and conditionality. Calls for more industrialisation, more development of the private sector and more investment in the knowledge economy are getting louder and louder.
Awareness is also growing in Africa, fortunately, that people have to be responsible for solving their own problems in the first instance. Europe should now make clear how it will support these promising developments, without falling into the trap of paternalism and interference. Any future partnership between the EU and Africa will inevitably have to be based on the principle of mutual accountability. In that sense, an unconditional abolition of agricultural subsidies could, more than any other gesture, strengthen the credibility of the EU among its African friends."@en1
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