Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-22-Speech-2-455"
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".
Mr President, rapporteur, ladies and gentlemen, honourable members, I would first of all like to congratulate Mrs Gomez for her excellent work on this sensitive and difficult, even controversial, subject.
Of course, economic growth of any kind must be accompanied by an active redistribution policy if it is to be effective in tackling poverty. I have said it many times: growth does not guarantee development. Redistribution is the key, and redistribution needs a solid government. It also needs a vigilant society, a free press, all of these things. I believe that the EU and China have a real role to play here, although this a lengthy process that will require considerable effort from both sides.
I would like to tell you about some of the questions I have. Is it truly realistic for example, is it constructive, is it useful, is it even desirable to begin this cooperation by insisting that China adopt the policies and standards laid down by the CAP? I somehow doubt it. If it works then so much the better, but I doubt it.
In any case, Africans do not seem overly keen to see China go down this path, precisely because they are looking for alternatives to European development assistance. Chinese aid is valued precisely because it is faster than European aid and it does not impose as many constraints which will ultimately reduce Africa’s political space. There is some basis for this. There has been a misunderstanding somewhere. People often say ‘you Europeans, you impose conditions!’ This is not true. There are no political conditions attached to the cooperation or the funding that we provide. The nature of that aid, the way in which it is used, yes. Budgetary support, for example, will not be offered if there is not good governance, there will be no budgetary support for countries where conflict exists. However, that does not stop us from offering development assistance or humanitarian aid, even when we do not agree with the government or the regime in place.
What is fundamentally different, where there is confusion, is that the Chinese are responsive, their disbursement process is much faster than ours, with all our bureaucracy, which has been the bane of my life for nearly four years. This is the reality, this is where the confusion and misunderstanding lie and I think that this point needs to be made.
Evidently I share your assessment. It is important for Chinese aid to be aligned with African’s national priorities, national systems, preferably in conjunction with other partners.
The same can be said today. It is premature, maybe even counterproductive, to force things in this sense, not to mention attempting it unilaterally. This is a long-term goal, but for now I can only see three areas where our cooperation and dialogue can be concentrated.
One is the creation of an open and constructive dialogue on Africa between the EU, a longstanding donor, and China. The second is the need to trade our development experiences with China and Africa so that together we can progress the development agenda. For example, China has designed a series of photovoltaic programmes. Clearly, on a continent such as Africa, there is room for trilateral cooperation, and this is one example. I spoke to the Minister for Trade about this after I met him at a meeting in Tonga, and he was very open on the subject. We will discuss it again in Beijing, as I am going straight there after this, so we will revisit these issues there.
Thirdly, we need to honour our commitments in terms of the Paris Agenda. This is a question of regulatory harmonisation and of the division of labour. On this I ask, I urge Parliament to help us, to force our Member States to put their money where their mouth is. Every single development minister, every single prime minister in Europe, without exception, agrees that there needs to be a better division of labour, more coordination to ensure cohesion. This is fair enough, but when we suggest real labour-sharing strategies to them, we get no response. This point needs to be raised because it is a fact. You see, my objective is not just to bring China into the CAP. I want to go further than that by trying to find common ground with the various Chinese operators in Africa, including the government, in order to foster development in Africa.
We Europeans and the Chinese must start with the African agenda and make contributions and pool our respective advantages, without sacrificing the values and principles that have guaranteed the stability, peace and prosperity of Europe over the last 50 years. That does not make me a dreamer or a fool, indeed quite the opposite. It is important to recognise, as you do, that China’s commitment raises questions and sometimes concerns, even in Africa. I too worry sometimes about what form cooperation with China will take, but so what? This is exactly why I am saying that we need dialogue. It is evident that China is pursuing its economic, diplomatic and strategic interests in Africa. Europe has all too often made the mistake of not admitting that it is tempted by the same thing and, rather than hide behind arguments, which are at times extremely hypocritical in any case, it would be far better to admit that Africa has potential, that it has special links with Europe and that we have a shared interest in discovering, building and forging those links. I believe that this is the win-win strategy, because it is only in this way that we will solve the negative equation of donor and beneficiary, which always gives rise to humiliation and suspicion and a feeling of dependency of one on the other - of the weakest on the strongest.
As I have said, the day after tomorrow, I will be in Beijing and I will try, Mrs Gomez, to test the water with a positive interpretation of your excellent report.
I support the numerous recommendations that you made concerning the policy that the European Union must adopt to tackle China’s growing presence in Africa. The EU and China actually have a number of things in common in their dealings with Africa. Firstly, they have both recognised Africa’s enormous potential perhaps more – or in any case sooner – than anyone else.
The EU and China are also two of the most important trading partners investing in Africa, ranked first and third in the world respectively. Naturally this calls for far greater cooperation, discussion and perhaps joint strategies between China and Europe with regard to Africa and in consultation with Africa. I share your opinion on this subject.
I would like to talk to you today about the points that I consider promising, in order to engage China and our African partners in trilateral cooperation. I would also like to share with you my doubts and questions over other points. Finally, I would like to tell you how I intend to follow up this report.
Firstly, Africa is living in the age of the global economy and globalisation. It is confirming its status as an international and global player, taking action on major global issues. It has constructed a vast network of partnerships around the world with a clear commitment to re-establishing relations. To be honest, it is now forcing its partners to compete with each other, rather clumsily perhaps, but with good reason. This is a reality, and I would even go so far as to say that it is fair and legitimate. It means that its partners must be modern, trusting and fair in their attitude.
I believe that the EU and China are ready to implement this new approach and that they want to do so, perhaps for different reasons, but clearly they are ready for this. We are both major partners of Africa. Our African policy is of course different in terms of principles and values but, on the ground, it is possible to identify numerous joint interests and similarities. For example, we have already commenced a dialogue on peace, stability and sustainable development in Africa. Clearly though we need to go further with the crucial support of our African friends, who must provide the impetus for this dialogue. This explains the trilateral approach which I proposed last year and which you seem to share, particularly in your proposal for the building of a permanent platform.
In this respect, you quite rightly underline the importance of equality and mutual respect, which must underpin this trilateral partnership. At the risk of sparking controversy, Europe must understand that it is not necessarily wise at the current time, and with a partner such as China, to try to take control by unilaterally dictating our terms. We must avoid generalisations and embark on the dialogue process. It is my belief that once we have embarked on a dialogue with China, we will be able to use this to address issues such as rule of law, democracy and governance; in other words, everything on which Europe’s values and the inspiration for its policies are built.
I agree with you that we need a European policy which is more effective and perhaps more expeditious, since this is the main advantage that the Chinese have over us. It would be more attractive too, more in step with the priorities of our African partners. To give you just one example, we are literally powerless, as European institutions, to deploy programmes, aid or measures in any post-conflict situations. Take the case of Liberia for example. This is a country where we have an elected government, a President who has a real programme and who wants change. Where is the effective response that this country needs to see that peace, stabilisation and democracy pay dividends? Nowhere! This pains me on a daily basis.
The modernisation of Europe’s policy towards Africa has been my priority since I took office. I think it is safe to say that we have already made considerable progress, particularly with the strategic partnerships resulting from the Lisbon Summit, although clearly there still remains a long way to go. The fight against poverty continues to the main objective of our development policy. To do this, we must create wealth and economic growth. China is witnessing this economic growth on a daily basis, and obviously this experience could benefit the African countries."@en1
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