Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

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Africa and EU summit This WEEK

  • African Union Commission chair Moussa Faki Mahamat (l) with EU council president Donald Tusk (Photo: © European Union)

The EU is aiming to launch a new and more profound relationship with Africa as leaders gather in the Ivory Coast next week.

The two-day EU Africa summit kicks off on Wednesday (29 November) in Abidjan with a focus on youth and jobs.

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Some 55 African leaders, along with 28 EU member states, are set to attend a summit described by one EU senior official as an effort to manage the continent's future demography.

With a population set to double by 2050, Africa is the only continent where young people outnumber and will continue to outnumber the old. Some 60 percent of the African population is under the age of 25.

"This offers a lot of opportunities but also poses a lot of challenges, challenges that we can better manage to together," one senior EU official told reporters.

Among the EU heads of state set to attend is France's president Emmanuel Macron.

A government spokesperson has yet to confirm German chancellor Angela Merkel's attendance. Austria is sending Muna Duzdar, the state secretary in the federal chancellery.

The EU is hoping the private sector will invest in the continent through a so-called external investment plan.

A second senior EU official described the investment plan as the EU's flagship proposal for the summit.

The plan mixes development aid to reduce investment risk in the hopes of leveraging some €44 billion on top of the EU's initial €4 billion.

The EU will expect African states to devote a larger percentage of their GDP to education with extra emphasis on girls.

"Girls and young women, and women in general, are the beating heart of Africa, and I think also of Europe," said the EU's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini.

Migration will also be discussed, as will good governance, and topics on peace and security.

Brussels and US

Meanwhile, back in Brussels, outstanding issues ranging from the weedkiller glyphosate , the EU budget for 2018, and Brexit will be on the agenda.

On Monday (27 November), a final round of glyphosate talks and a vote will place in an effort to break a deadlock for a possible three or five-year renewal.

Glyphosate is used in a Monsanto product called Roundup. Member state representatives have so far been unable to agree on a renewal of the licence, set to expire at the end of this year.

If they failed again on Monday, it would be up to the Commission to take the decision.

On Tuesday, EU finance commissioner Pierre Moscovici and EU justice commissioner Vera Jourova will be at the European Parliament to discuss the latest tax avoidance scandal known as the Paradise Papers.

The papers, revealed by the International Consortium for Investigative Journalism, shows how politicians and the global business elite hide their money from public tax authorities.

The talks come ahead of plans in early December by the EU commission to publish a blacklist of tax havens.

US secretary of State Rex Tillerson is also set to deliver remarks on Tuesday at the Wilson Center in Washington D.C. on how he views ongoing and future relations with Europe.

The European Commission, also on Wednesday, is set to unveil its ideas on how to reform the EU's agriculture policy.

The largest share of the EU budget is devoted to the Common Agricultural Policy, which provides subsidies to European farmers. The broad plan is to both modernise and simplify the policy.

Also on Wednesday, MEPs in the European Parliament plenary will debate the annual EU budget for next year.

EU Parliament president Antonio Tajani is set to sign off on the budget but only when approved with a plenary vote on Thursday.

The plenary will also devote more attention on Thursday to the rule of law in Malta.

The island-state was pushed into the global spotlight following the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, a prolific investigative journalist who had exposed high-level government corruption.

The parliament's constitutional affairs committee on Wednesday will host a workshop on the implications of Brexit on the Irish border.

Member states are also putting forward their candidates for the presidency of the Eurogroup, ahead of votes the following week. The outgoing chair, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, is set to announce the candidates on Friday.

EU agencies and eastern neighbours This WEEK

EU ministers will vote on where to relocate two EU agencies from the UK, while later EU leaders will host six eastern European countries in Brussels. Former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic awaits his verdict in the Hague.

EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK

This week, EU leaders come together in Brussels for their usual two-day summit to discuss defence, enlargement, migration and foreign affairs. EU ministers for foreign affairs and EU affairs will meet earlier in the week to prepare the European Council.

EU summit prep work and von der Leyen's Egypt visit This WEEK

MEPs will hold a debate with EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen about the next European Council on Tuesday. Later this week, on Sunday, von der Leyen will be in Egypt for talks regarding a potential 'cash-for-migrant-control' deal.

Defence, von der Leyen, women's rights, in focus This WEEK

Ursula von der Leyen is expected to be confirmed as the EPP candidate for president of the next EU Commission. A new defence strategy will be unveiled this week, while the ECB is expected to maintain interest rates.

More farmers, Ukraine aid, Yulia Navalnaya in focus This WEEK

EU agriculture ministers meet in Brussels amid new farmers' protests. MEPs will hear from Alexei Navalny's widow and give the final green light to the €50bn Ukraine facility, while the CBAM proposal faces a formal challenge at a WTO meeting.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

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