He Wenping: EU's cooperation with Africa faces' credibility test '

On November 24-25, European and African leaders held the 7th EU African Union Summit in Angola, with the aim of deepening economic and security ties and holding emergency talks on the Ukraine issue. In a joint statement, the two leaders of the European Union - President of the European Commission von der Leyen and President of the European Council Costa said: "The challenges we face today - climate change, digital transformation, illegal migration, conflict and insecurity - have no borders. Multipolar cooperation should be adopted in this multipolar world." They also said that "Africa and Europe can work together to lead the future", because the goal of both sides is "to build a fairer, greener and safer world based on common values and mutual respect".

The convening of the Euro African Summit coincided with the United States boycotting the G20 Summit hosted by South Africa and launching the "28 point peace plan" to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict across Europe and Ukraine. The EU's renewed emphasis on reshaping relations with Africa actually began with the Russia-Ukraine conflict that began in 2022. Due to the cessation of importing oil and gas resources from Russia, Europe has turned its attention to Africa. Stable access to oil, gas, and key mineral resources from Africa, as well as controlling the entry of refugees from Africa into Europe, have become the two core concerns of Europe's policy towards Africa.

Africa, as a former colony of European countries such as Britain, France, and Portugal, holds an important position in the EU's foreign relations. At the international political and diplomatic level, if the EU loses its influence in Africa, it believes that it will be relegated to a "second-class country" club, further losing its bargaining chips in the game with the United States, Russia, and China. In terms of trade, the EU has long been Africa's main trading partner and source of investment. By 2024, EU Africa trade accounted for 34.3% of Africa's foreign trade.

In terms of investment, many non new investment projects launched by the EU in recent years under the "Global Gateway Program" are mainly related to the extraction and export of oil and gas and key mineral products. On November 20th, just before the opening of the G20 summit hosted by South Africa, the EU and South Africa officially signed a key mineral cooperation agreement aimed at ensuring stable supply of key minerals from South Africa to the EU. After the signing of the agreement, European Commission President von der Leyen said that the EU "needs these inputs to promote the clean energy transformation of the UK and Europe" and establish a "fair and reliable supply chain".

The key strategic layout of the European Union and the United States in Africa also includes the so-called "Lobito Corridor", which includes a hard link connecting southern Congo, northwestern Zambia, and the port of Lobito in Angola. It involves hard infrastructure such as railways and highways, with the aim of facilitating the export of key minerals from Congo and Zambia to Europe and America. There are attempts to offset the construction of the Tanzania Zambia Railway in China Africa cooperation and reconstruct the supply chain of key minerals in Africa. Angolan economist Hector de Carvalho admitted that the residents along the "Lobito Corridor" are still just observers of railway development. Because this corridor mainly passes through agricultural areas of relevant African countries, the economic value of locally produced agricultural products cannot be compared to the value of mineral resources transported by railway. Therefore, the people along the railway corridor who hope to escape poverty by building this railway corridor may still live in the contradiction between "vision and reality".

In fact, the enormous challenges facing the economic and trade development of Africa today are not only the widespread imposition of new tariffs ranging from 10% to 50% by the US government on African countries, but also the pressure of new "carbon tariffs" from the European Union. The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is expected to come into effect in 2026, aimed at imposing import tariffs on products from countries with inadequate implementation of carbon emission policies. CBAM is applicable to products such as steel, cement, aluminum, fertilizers, hydrogen, and electricity, requiring exporting countries to take measures to reduce carbon emissions. Undoubtedly, this new 'carbon tariff' will have a significant impact on African exports.

That's why, in response to the 7th EU African Union Summit and the statements of European leaders, African Union spokesperson Nur Mahmoud Sheikh said, "Africa needs not a new declaration, but credible and executable commitments." As an economic analyst in Nigeria said, "Europe's credibility now depends on whether it can support projects that create value in Africa, not just increase Brussels' visibility." International observers point out that Europe needs to increase investment in African infrastructure, energy, and industrial projects that create employment opportunities, and abandon empty support statements. Otherwise, there will still be a huge gap between the EU's grand strategic declaration and the practical development needs of African countries, and the EU's policy towards Africa will be difficult to shake off its "strategic utilitarianism" and profound historical "trust deficit" in the long run. (The author is a researcher at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies and the China Academy of African Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)