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This blog brings together voices from both Africa, Europe and beyond and asks "what is next for Africa-Europe relations?"

#AfricaEU2015    #EYD2015    #Post2015

The EU is the biggest donor of the official development assistance (ODA) in the world. Four years after the adoption of the Agenda for Change (the European Commission's blueprint to refocus its development aid to make sure that it reaches those sectors and countries which need it most), 2015 is the ideal time for donors and stakeholders to come together to look at what has been achieved so far, and most importantly, what still needs to be done.

Despite the current economic downturn, support for development remains high across the EU, with some 85% of EU citizens saying that Europe should continue helping developing countries despite the economic crisis, according to a recent Eurobarometer survey.

The European Year of Development 2015 will be a key opportunity to raise awareness of development across Europe, and to show European taxpayers know that every euro spent on development benefits both people living in some of the world's poorest countries, and EU citizens themselves.

Africa and Europe are bound together by history, culture, geography, a common future, as well as by a community of values: the respect for human rights, freedom, equality, solidarity, justice, the rule of law and democracy as enshrined in the relevant international agreements and in the constitutive texts of our respective Unions.

THE AFRICA-EU STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

The 4th Africa-EU Summit that took place in Brussels in April 2014 provided an opportunity to look back at the successes and failures of the Joint Africa EU Strategy (JAES) and to look ahead for ways to fundamentally rebuild the nature, ambition and scope of the strategic partnership between both Africa and Europe for the years to come.

Will the declared Roadmap be enough to ensure sustainable development, peace and security for the years ahead until 2017? 

The 2014 European Think Tanks Group (ETTG) Report argues that "Europe’s problems need global solutions and global problems need European action".

For more background visit the European Centre for Development and Policy Management's (ECDPM) Dossier on Africa - EU Relations.

This blog is co-ordinated by ECDPM. All opinions shared on this blog are those of the contributors, and not necessarily those of ECDPM.