Not much has come of the previously announced European-African strategic agricultural cooperation so far. This became clear from an explanation given by Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski to the EU ministers during their two-day summit in Luxembourg.
Last week, Wojciechowski held a video meeting during the fourth ministerial conference between the EU and the African Union, together with the Spanish minister Luis Planas. The Spanish minister stated that the European Union wants to intensify cooperation with Africa in the field of agriculture.
This strategy was announced by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the start of her commission. According to the strategy, the EU and Africa must join forces to achieve the UN goal of eradicating global hunger and ensuring food security.
The strategy also envisions the export of European expertise and technology so that African countries can better manage their own food production and agriculture. In recent years, Dutch greenhouse builders have been active in North African countries, and Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and other knowledge institutes have already conducted scientific research.
The year 2020 was supposed to be crucial for relations between the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU). The strategy was to be discussed at the upcoming AU-EU summit. This triennial summit was scheduled for fall 2020 but was postponed until 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Portugal, which held the EU presidency during the first half of 2021, promised to intensify cooperation with Africa but took no further action. The summit is still not scheduled, and the responsibility now lies with Slovenia, which will assume the presidency of the EU Council on July 1. However, the word “Africa” does not appear on Slovenia’s 'shopping list.'
It is likely that France, which will hold the EU presidency for half a year in 2022, will nonetheless strengthen agricultural ties with Africa. France traditionally has good relations with the French-speaking former colonies in East Africa and has an extensive diplomatic network there.
However, it is also known that French farmers are opposed to the import of African agricultural products and are wary of various European trade agreements. Moreover, 2022 is the year in which French President Macron seeks re-election.