14 kilometres separate Europe from Africa through the Strait of Gibraltar. This geographical proximity goes hand in hand with economic relations, diplomatic exchanges and many common challenges - security and climate in particular. Why are we addressing this relationship today? Because the Cotonou Agreement, which governs political, economic and financial relations between the European Union and 48 sub-Saharan African countries, expires on 29 February 2020. The two continents thus face the question of the partnership they wish to define for the next 20 years, and its level of ambition. 

It is now time to put the partnership with the African continent back at the centre of the European agenda. In fact, the current course of negotiations does not seem to be up to the task.

In this context, and beyond the formal Cotonou framework, Institut Montaigne has brought together African and European actors from the public, private sectors and civil society to fully consider an ambitious partnership, based on clear priorities. A new vision of Europe-Africa relations must materialize.

Since the signing of the Cotonou Agreement nearly 20 years ago, Africa, the European Union and the international context have undergone profound evolutions. On the one hand, the EU has enlarged to 28 member states, some of which have no historical links with African countries. Africa, on the other hand, has experienced profound demographic, technological and economic disruptions, which have propelled its growth and brought about institutional changes, such as the evolution of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) of the founding fathers  into the African Union (AU).
 

Beyond economic and security issues, to which the ties tends to be reduced, the EU and Africa are closely linked on four key issues: diplomacy, multilateralism and international influence; economics, development and finance; security and defence; and climate change and human mobility. 

Africa and the EU share a common destiny that calls for a strong and renewed partnership, whose vision must be based on three main axes:

• First of all, reaffirming the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a common vision. There are 17 SDGs, which aim at prosperity and take into account the preservation of the planet. They were adopted in 2015 by all the countries of the world and must be achieved by 2030.
   
• Then, getting to know each other better through joint networks of influence, exchanges between European and African students and researchers, and a more active communication on the EU's achievements on the ground.
   
• Finally, placing job creation in Africa as an absolute and urgent priority: by 2050, 30 million young Africans will enter the labour market!

The Europe-Africa partnership must focus on five priorities, and address the major challenges faced by the African continent, in order to achieve the ultimate goal of job creation. These challenges are: the business environment, industrialization and integration into the global economy, taxation, regional integration, and professional training. While providing answers to these challenges will benefit the African continent, it will also be beneficial for Europe through preferred cooperation.

Business environment

The political, legal, institutional and regulatory conditions in African countries are currently not optimal for foreign companies wishing to invest on the African continent, which hinders the attractiveness of these countries. Infrastructure is a key element of a country or market’s  attractiveness - and therefore of its economic activity. Without a road or railroad in good condition between Dakar and Bamako, which foreign ord local company can consider Senegal or Mali as a large market in which it is interesting to invest? Yet, infrastructure needs remain tremendous in African countries in search of foreign investment. 

Industrialization and integration into the global economy

Today, Africa represents only 2% of global value chains - that is, all the activities that bring a product from design, to production, to delivery to the final consumer. The continent's industry, which is largely focused on raw materials, is insufficiently competitive and creates little added value locally. In addition, the African continent currently suffers from a deficit in African regional value chains.  

Taxation

To finance the $600 billion a year needed for development, African states must and have the potential to raise more domestic resources through tax collection. This will also have an impact on the attractiveness of African countries for companies, particularly European companies, which tend to be overtaxed. 

Regional integration 

Intra-African trade now accounts for less than 18% of the continent's trade. While the entry into force in July 2019 of a Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) signed by 44 African countries and ratified by 22, is a promise of improvement in this regard, it should not conceal the future challenges of African regional integration. There are significant differences in income between countries and the capacity of existing regional institutions - UEMOA (West African Economic and Monetary Union), ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), ECCAS (Economic Community of Central African States), SADC (Southern African Development Community), EAC (East African Community) - are currently too low. 

Professional training 

About 30 million young Africans enter the labour market each year. However, professional training does not meet the needs of the African continent: it is too poorly funded and unsuited to the needs of companies, which often have to pay for remedial training, which represents significant, even prohibitive costs.

Although it commits various and important resources to the African continent, the EU's action is still too unclear, invisible and ineffective. The EU must rethink the tools of its partnership with Africa, in particular in three areas.  

• Today, the European Development Fund (EDF), the EU's financial instrument for sub-Saharan African countries under the Cotonou Agreement, prioritizes aid in the form of financial support, particularly to States. In order to create a favourable environment for private investment in African countries, technical assistance, i.e. the provision of know-how, in the form of personnel or training for example, which currently represents just over 3% of EU aid, should be encouraged. This technical assistance should target particularly the private sector, especially SMEs, without neglecting technical assistance to African administrations, particularly in project implementation and legislation standardization.
   
• Few of the EU's funding today is dedicated to the private sector. In addition, the processes for private sector actors to obtain such financing are too slow and complex. This is one of Europe's weaknesses in Africa, particularly in the face of emerging countries. A telling example: six years of unsuccessful negotiations between Africans and Europeans took place to develop a railway infrastructure that links Djibouti to Addis Ababa... while it took China only two years to build the rails and run a train. The EU must work to facilitate access to its financing for African and European companies, which are best able to create jobs on the African continent.
   
• As early as 1970, most OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) countries committed to spending 0.7% of their GNI on development aid. This objective, however symbolic it may be, focuses public development aid policies on the amounts committed rather than on the impact of the projects financed. In order to maximize the impact of its  aid, the EU must develop tools to reduce the risk associated with private investment on the African continent, such as guarantees. In this context, blended finance initiatives, i.e. combining public and private resources, must be increased.