Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-11-24-Speech-3-400"
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"en.20101124.21.3-400"2
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"Madam President, this has been an extremely rich debate and I would just like to emphasise a couple of points in answer to some questions.
I believe that this is a very particular summit. It is a summit that is not so much about political slogans, but more about the trust that already exists. That is rather fragile. We could benefit from a lot from these relations, but there could be a lot of damage.
I believe that this summit will have a lasting impact, because I believe that the emphasis is on the right areas. We are looking from Africa’s point of view at Africa’s political role. We have provided a lot of support to bring Africa to where it is today, and we are committed to moving Africa forward with our support, and definitely by encouraging Africa to have ownership of the processes in Africa.
I think it would be wrong not to recognise that Africa has changed substantially. Africa has more self-confidence; and good reason for it. Economic growth is there and, in a way, Africa has dealt with the economic and financial crises better than Europe has done.
Africa is much more organised and much stronger – even more than the European Commission – and has more power in the form of the African Union. At the same time it would be wrong to compare the African Union with the European Union, because they are different types of Unions and we should not try to compare them one to one. However, it is very clear that there is an African Union.
It is also important that Africa understands its power in the international arena. African countries are looking for representation in accordance with their political way. That means that this summit is a very particular summit. It is definitely not a donor/recipient summit. It is a summit that perhaps may not even be very high profile, but we need to make that relation thrive.
I believe that we need to address two critical issues. One is a more simple issue: that achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) should be done in a sustainable way through inclusive growth. That is why we address the issue of energy. That is why much focus is placed on sustainable agriculture, because without it our results in achieving MDGs and fighting poverty and providing more stability will be under threat.
The second issue is very serious political debate. Yes, good governance and human rights are on the agenda. But it is not the case any more that one side is listening and the other one is making its point. It is a two-way street. On the one hand, that is a challenge and on the other hand it is an opportunity. Human rights and good governance are for us the backbone of stability in our societies. It is not that we wish to preach. However, we believe you cannot achieve the MDGs and eradicate poverty without addressing these issues.
That means that in all the programmes that we address, good governance is key. In the ex-ante procedure, we do not engage with governments where we see no hope of good governance. We then go on to deal with NGOs; we try to support the population by other means. However, in each and every project we increasingly emphasise the role of good governance and human rights.
Sustainability is also to the fore in our policy. We do not finance the Serengeti projects, for example. No EU money is involved in any project that damages the environment. Each project is evaluated on the basis of an environmental impact assessment. We have a very sustainable approach to the projects. But at the same time it is very clear that we cannot expect that a continent that will double its population in a very short time will not have an impact on the environment.
And again, our role now in the current situation is really to look for sustainable growth; and renewable energy is the key to providing such a type of growth."@en1
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