Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-23-Speech-1-146"
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"en.20090323.17.1-146"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the joint EU-Africa Strategy is first and foremost a great challenge, a time for us to show that we are capable of taking a fresh look at ourselves and our policies. I believe we still need to think through relations between our two continents, and our development strategies, very carefully.
It is a long process; we cannot expect to solve everything at once, and it is also very complicated, but primarily it must, in my opinion, be an inclusive, participative process built from the bottom up: a partnership between equals.
The Lisbon Summit was not able to achieve this in full, perhaps because of the haste with which it was concluded, and neither the European Union nor the African Union wanted or was able to give a structural role to parliaments and civil society, in Africa or Europe. It is now a year since the summit and, as the Martens report strongly emphasises, our Parliament, the Pan-African Parliament and civil society still do not have a real say in determining the strategy.
It is therefore vital – not least in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals on overcoming poverty and disease and on agricultural and educational development – that these should be included, along with all the topics that have been raised, from desertification to climate change and energy.
It is essential to have complete ownership and a democratic partnership open, therefore, to the public and not confined solely to governments and committees. We, as the European Parliament, have enhanced our relations with the Pan-African Parliament and there is no doubt that these steps forward have had a positive impact on the joint EU-Africa Strategy.
A number of doubts emerged back in 2007, however, regarding funding. Will the funds be found to achieve this joint strategy? What is the future for the ACP States and the Cotonou Agreement? What will be our relationship with international organisations – the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the WTO? Let us work together to make these institutions more democratic.
To conclude, I believe that we should take heart and press ahead with this challenge because Africa – as we have learnt in recent years – is a continent rich in human and economic resources; a genuine partner. It is fantastic to see – Commissioner Michel, whom I know well, is aware of this – that there is great wealth and not just death, destruction and war, although we must, of course, work on those areas to build peace and democracy."@en1
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