Tackling poverty is top priority for Africa-EU relations, say EU citizens

Thirty-eight per cent of Europeans say tackling poverty is the main challenge for Africa-EU relations followed by peace and security (34 per cent) and respect for human rights (33 per cent), although there are differences between the original member states of the EU and those who have joined more recently.

Citizens in the EU’s original 15 member states1 feel that democracy and good governance are the top priorities in Africa-EU cooperation whereas citizens of the 12 ‘new’ member states feel that poverty and hunger are most important issues to address. The views are found in a recent Eurobarometer poll published ahead of the Africa-EU Summit to take place in Libya, 29-30 November. Eurobarometer is an internal EU body that conducts public opinion polls among EU citizens on diverse issues.“Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and overcoming poverty remain at the heart of Europe’s partnership with Africa. I am encouraged to see that this is also a priority for citizens across Europe. The Summit in Tripoli will be an excellent occasion to discuss ways of how to improve our cooperation in this respect,” said European Development Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs. There are eight thematic partnerships to the Joint Africa-EU Strategic partnership launched in 2007: democratic governance and human rights; trade, regional integration and infrastructure; democratic governance and human rights; the Millennium Development Goals; energy; climate change; migration, mobility and employment and science, information society and space. EU officials say that the EU’s primary development goal of eradicating poverty already reflects the public’s say. The poverty-eradication objective is laid down in the Lisbon Treaty and contained in the EU’s recent Green Paper on “EU Development Policy in Support of Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development”. (http://ec.europa.eu/development/services/dev-policy-proposals_en.cfm) . The poll also revealed that thirty-four per cent of Europeans think Africa will become a more important partner for Europe in the next decade; the highest percentage of those of this view being in Sweden, Austria, Luxembourg, Germany, Slovenia and Portugal, whereas 42 per cent think the relationship will stay the same.The poll also noted that although the issue of illegal migration from Africa has been given a lot of media coverage recently, just six per cent of Europeans see it as an issue of major importance in Africa-EU relations although higher than average scores were recorded in Africa’s closest EU neighbours, Malta and Spain.Europeans cited the continent’s natural beauty (28 per cent) and wildlife (24 per cent) when asked for their own positive images of Africa. Forty-one per cent of Europeans associate Africa with other positives such as the arts, bustling markets, and sporting successes. One in ten Europeans also referred to technology and economy-related positive images of the continent.The main theme of the 3rd Africa-EU Summit is ‘Investment, Economic Growth and Job Creation’ with the aim of taking cooperation to a new more ambitious level. 1 The EU’s original member states are; Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.2 The ‘new’ member states are; Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.