European-African Relations "Post Cotonou" and "Post Covid-19"

Today, the European Union (EU) is the world's most financially powerful player when it comes to international cooperation with the Global South. There are different international frameworks of African-European relations: the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES), the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) for North African countries, the Cotonou Agreement with the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) and its successor agreements (see below). In addition, there are international organizations that provide a broader framework and influence African-European relations: The United Nations with its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in times of the Covid pandemic, also the policies of the World Health Organization as part of the UN. Moreover, the World Trade Organization plays a role with its requirements for trade (since 2007, exceptions only for "least developed countries" which can continue to import duty free, "everything but arms"), and also the World Bank. Relations between the EU and the African Union (AU) and its respective member states will be reset in 2022. The Heads of State and Government of the EU and the African Union (AU) and their respective Member States met in Brussels on February 17-18, 2022 for the sixth EU-AU Summit. The renewed Africa-EU Strategy is a unique opportunity to lay the foundations for a more pragmatic AU-EU partnership. The strategy includes also the "Post-Cotonou" Agreements, i.e. a framework agreement for all former ACP countries (States of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP), today: States of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS)), plus a specific agreement for Africa and more specialized Economic Partnership Agreements with the various states and regions. The "Post Cotonou" framework Agreement has been discussed for years, it is on the table now, and its entry into force is expected in summer 2022. The proposed paper deals with the relationship between the EU and the AU and analyses in a first step its various supranational and international angles. In a second step, it examines the following factors influencing EU-AU relations: (a) the Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, especially the economic SDGs 8, 9 and 12 as well as the partnership focused SDG 17, (b) the regime of the World Trade Organization which lead to the establishment of several Economic Partnership Agreements (EPS), (c) intra-African developments such as the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area in 2018, and (e) intra-European developments such as the exit of the UK as a former colonial power. The pandemic took influence on all these variables. Therefore, the paper will finally discuss the influence of Covid-19 on the EU-AU relations and discuss the AU-EU partnership in a broader geopolitical context.