Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Prioritising Africa: European civil society's perspective
Date: 2006-05-18
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: Africa, EU policy, cooperation policy, development aid, governance, health policy

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Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Prioritising Africa: European civil
society's perspective

(2006/C 195/25)

On 14 July 2005, the European Economic and Social Committee, acting under Rule 29(2) of its Rules of
Procedure, decided to draw up an opinion on Prioritising Africa: European civil society's perspective

The Section for External Relations, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the
subject, adopted its opinion on 4 May 2006. The rapporteur was Mr Bedossa.

At its 427th plenary session, held on 17 and 18 May 2006 (meeting of 18 May), the European Economic
and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 125 votes with one abstention.

Summary

— Governance that meets the following specifications:

The European Economic and Social Committee has drafted this
own-initiative opinion on the basis of experience gained by its
ACP-EU Follow-up Committee, which has been following the
implementation of the Cotonou Agreement for several years
and which has played an active role in the preparation of the
EPAs with ACP civil society organisations.

involvement

in the implementation of

The Commission Communication (1) has prompted the EESC to
take stock of these policies, with specific reference to non-state
the Cotonou
actor
Agreement and EU development aid policy. The European
Economic and Social Committee notes with regret that these
policies have all too often led to broken promises, both on the
European and the African side. A certain discrepancy between
declared intentions and practice on the ground has been
noticed in the past, but the fact is that aid policies are useless
unless they are prepared on the ground.

The Cotonou Agreement is primarily an inter-state agreement
that does not adequately provide for civil society action on the
ground. Furthermore, the aid mechanisms that have actually
been provided for under the Agreement have rarely lived up to
their promises. Consequently, and given that civil society orga-
nisations have some catching up to do before they can act effi-
ciently and independently,
it comes as no surprise that the
approaching EPAs have raised doubts, fears and concerns.

We must not forget that African society's organisational models
have their own deep-rooted social and political characteristics.
These must be taken into proper consideration in order to
advance the objectives identified by the European Economic
and Social Committee, which believes that if the new, ambi-
tious European strategy for Africa is to succeed, then its func-
tion must be to support civil society, a key actor in develop-
ment policy, by highlighting two crucial areas where civil
society organisations can make a difference.

— respect for human rights,

— the right to free and decentralised information,

— transparency of

the organisations and administrative

bodies in the relevant countries,

— the elimination of corruption, an absolute obstacle to

good governance,

— the universal right to water, health and education,

— the right to food security.

In order to achieve this, the EESC recommends greater,
easier access for African civil society organisations to Com-
munity funding and their
systematic participation in
defining and implementing cooperation policies and strate-
gies.

— Combating AIDS

The role of civil society organisations is crucial to this struggle,
as they have privileged access to sufferers on the ground:
prevention, diagnosis, treatment etc. We need an integrated
approach towards the three pandemics and patient associations
are a crucial link in this struggle.

The European Union must contribute to solving the crisis in
human resources by increasing technical capacities and training
all stakeholders. The European Economic and Social Committee
calls on all political, economic and social
leaders to rally
behind this objective.

Governance that promotes human development on this conti-
nent.

(1) EU Strategy for Africa: Towards a Euro-African pact to accelerate

Africa's development, COM(2005) 489 final.

The European Economic and Social Committee affirms that the
absolute priority is access to ‘all-in-one’ medicines whose cost
is controlled by international bodies and that the European
Union should use its influence to develop and accelerate
research for a universal vaccine.

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1. Introduction

On 12 October 2005,

the European Commission
1.1
adopted a Communication to the Council, the European Parlia-
ment and the European Economic and Social Committee on
the EU Strategy for Africa: Towards a Euro-African pact to accelerate
Africa's development.

The EESC agrees with the broad thrust and consistent
1.2
approach of his ambitious Euro-African project. However,
it
has received a mixed reception from African non-governmental
organisations (NGOs), which, in their disillusionment, cannot
help wondering why this new plan should succeed where
others have failed.

1.3
The document under consideration is the outcome of a
long-term project initiated by Commissioner Louis Michel at
the beginning of his term of office in November 2004. It calls
on the 25 EU Member States to adopt a joint cooperation
policy with Africa, noting the diverse political contexts and
levels of development rooted in age-old relations and requiring
a new approach.

The strategy is ambitious precisely because it outlines
1.4
the undoubtedly numerous, but non-exhaustive, priority areas
for impacting on the continent's development.

In this respect, it is extremely inspiring and also restores
1.5
the political pillar
thereby
providing the EU with an opportunity to remain Africa's most
influential partner.

to the centre of development,

1.6 Moreover, the proposed system promotes better-coordi-
nated European action and tends towards harmonising prac-
tices at Community level. This goes
some way towards
deepening concerted EU action at a time of widespread
condemnation of shortcomings in this area.

whereas development prospects remains bleak’. People have a
right to seek a degree of prosperity as long as water, health,
education and food security issues remain unresolved in the
the Commission shares these
long term. The President of
concerns since he has stated that ‘we must strike at the struc-
tural causes of under-development in Africa’. Although planned
several months in advance, the announcement of this new
strategy coincided with the Ceuta and Melilla crisis.

The European Economic and Social Committee takes

2.5
full note of the Communication's objectives, namely to:

— improve the coherence of development policy for Africa;

and to

— reaffirm its will to fulfil the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) in Africa by 2015 by launching a major effort and
identifying core objectives. Europe must work with Africa
to find a productive consensus. Taking action means resol-
ving the vital problems relating to disease, water, education
and employment. The Commission hopes that
its new
strategy will soon produce positive results because — it
must be stressed — it has been drawn up in consultation
with the people of Africa.

Nevertheless,

2.6
and Social
Committee wonders whether this is not a little too ambitious,
particularly in view of the following:

the European Economic

— the large number of broken promises: there is a permanent
discrepancy between declared intentions and practice on
the ground because aid policies are useless if they are not
prepared in cooperation with organisations working locally.
For too long now, direct aid to civil society under the
Cotonou Agreement has failed to live up to its promises
because the Cotonou Agreement is essentially an inter-state
agreement that failed from the start to reckon with the
presence of civil society action on the ground;

2. General comments

— AIDS — an urgent issue for the continent: it has taken us
fifteen years to decide that we can actually help Africa;

2.1
Several voices have been raised in warning that the
worst will come to pass in Africa unless Europe and the rest of
the world take immediate action.

— all the problems that make governance necessary in these
countries, especially over-indebtedness, a problem that is
often created by governments with no democratic legiti-
macy.

2.2
the
Unless Africa achieves independent development,
long-term consequences of migratory flows, disease and envir-
onmental issues will get worse, whether we like it or not.

If the initial ambition is to be respected, three prerequi-

2.7
sites must be fulfilled:

The obvious conclusion,

2.3
industrialised
countries must rethink the assistance they deliver to Africa. It is
not the first time that these alarm bells have been sounded and
some political or economic leaders speak openly of the ‘hypoc-
risy’ manifested by industrialised countries.

is that

then,

2.4
Ongoing sustained migrations are expected to result in
‘pressure that will continue to rise in the coming years. There
increase in the population of Africa
will be a substantial

— the need for greater security — in the broad sense — for

citizens,

— adequate economic growth, to be achieved mainly through
the Cotonou Agreement and the Economic Partnership
Agreements (EPAs), and

— improved governance everywhere.

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2.8
It should be noted that, to this end, the joint resources
of the European Union and the G8 are to be substantially
increased. They will double over the next ten years, and half
the
these resources will be dedicated to Africa. However,
number of promises broken in the past, albeit on both sides,
calls for caution. For if
the growing number of promises
cannot be denied, the reduction in aid actually provided by
certain industrialised countries in recent years is equally unde-
niable!

2.9
The European Economic and Social Committee agrees
with the spirit of the Communication, not least in its definition
of human rights policy. Since 2001 a number of countries
have made progress towards meeting human rights and demo-
cratisation criteria. Nevertheless, the EESC would once again
emphasise that human rights and democratisation must be
further strengthened.
In order to ensure the promotion of
justice and rule of law, support is required to strengthen and
organise civil society, and in particular the social partners,
whose dialogue must be guaranteed in accordance with ILO
standards.

Nevertheless,

the European Economic

2.10
and Social
Committee notes the need to define priorities, which further
requires a deeper analysis of the major issues involved, namely
to:

— coordinate EU policies and, more specifically, to provide for

coordination of Member States' policies;

— continue discussions on and implementation of new forms
in particular by providing
of solidarity-based financing,
support for the follow-up group on sources of new funding
to supplement government aid (set up at the Paris Confer-
ence in February 2006);

— consult and organise essential regional integration, as well
as inter-regional policy; and prioritise the creation of inter-
regional infrastructure through calls for tender that comply
with specific social and environmental standards, thereby
facilitating the establishment of regional institutions;

— focus heavily on the issue of emigration, especially by elimi-
nating the causes of population displacement in Africa. For
this, the EU must show clear and heightened awareness
because migration in sub-Saharan Africa is primarily rural
and therefore the European Union should spare no effort in
defining and applying a rural policy aimed at progressing
towards food sufficiency in these regions in full cooperation
with civil society; and

— finally, to strengthen the role of governance through effec-
tive civil society participation since the Cotonou Agreement
has clearly disappointed in this respect, and the Euro-

African Forum has produced no decisive results. Respect for
good governance in partner States should therefore comply
with a number of multifaceted specifications:

— respect for human rights,

— gender equality,

— the right to free and decentralised information,

— transparency of government organisations and their

administration,

— the elimination of corruption, an absolute obstacle to

good governance,

— the universal right to water, health and education,

— the phasing-out of the informal economy, which may
amount to 80 % of economic activity in some countries.

2.11
The European Economic and Social Committee would
also reiterate that rural development, a frequently underesti-
mated issue, is an absolute priority that we must never lose
sight of. In Africa, the importance of agriculture is self-evident
for frequently reiterated reasons: self-sufficiency in food is
essential for development and population stability. Participatory
civil society is largely made up of farmers and pastoralists. It is
therefore essential to listen to them before drawing up rural
policy, and to involve them in its implementation in order to
maximise the chances of success.

2.12
The European Economic and Social Committee recalls
the importance of infrastructure, which remains conspicuous
by its absence, perhaps for want of imagination. This includes
national or inter-regional communication systems and access to
water, the geopolitical relevance of which is obvious.

The European Economic and Social Committee calls

2.13
for the total cessation of all forms of direct budgetary support.

2.14
None of this will be possible without greater participa-
tion of civil society players in an improved framework for
global governance, which is of
relevance to all public,
economic and social authorities.

3. Specific comments

In this general context, Africa has been at the top of the 2005
international agenda. The G8 Summit in Scotland last July, the
UN 60th anniversary celebrations in New York, and the recent
annual meeting of the Bretton Woods institutions, have all
provided people including Tony Blair, Horst Kohler and
Paul Wolfowitz,
the new World Bank President, with the
opportunity to say their piece on the need to save Africa from
disaster.

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The European Economic and Social Committee would therefore
focus attention on the pressing issues it has already highlighted
in its previous stances:

3.1.3
The European Union considers that human rights are
inviolable. The European Economic and Social Committee calls
for EU support to civil society to become a reality, and bearing
in mind these human rights concerns, for:

— Prioritising Africa is a clear necessity but this should be
accomplished by considerably broadening, within the
framework of this new governance, access for civil society
in all its diversity and reality.

— Fighting AIDS must be declared an absolute emergency
because another tragedy is currently unfolding before our
very eyes in an atmosphere of relative indifference.

3.1 Pr i or i t i si ng A fr i ca

The European Economic

3.1.1
and Social Committee
supports the European Commission's intention to make sub-
Saharan Africa a priority area for EU development aid. Never-
theless, if this measure is to be effective, it must be accompa-
nied by better governance in Africa at both national and
regional levels. This concerns African inter-state organisations,
States, and civil society organisations. Thanks to their indepen-
their proximity to the
dence (which needs strengthening),
population and pro-activism, civil society organisations can
help the populations directly concerned to take greater posses-
sion of development policies. The reasons for Africa's disinte-
gration are indeed diverse, but civil society's lack of indepen-
dence and inadequate capacity undoubtedly play a part and
have a not inconsiderable impact. The concept of delegation,
which was expressly provided for in the Cotonou Agreement
for the purpose of resolving this problem, is ineffective because
the direct, albeit conditional, assistance to these associations set
out in the Agreement has proved difficult to deliver.

3.1.2
fore recommends:

The European Economic and Social Committee there-

— greater and easier access to Community funding for African
civil society organisations. Direct access at national
level
should be guaranteed. Moreover, a horizontal programme
to fund non-State actors should also be set in place to
complement programmes at national level;

— civil society participation in defining and implementing
cooperation policies and strategies should be broader and
more systematic in order to enable civil society to take
greater possession of the development process and thereby
to contribute to the establishment of good governance. If
some instances of progress have been detected, it is due to
the slow but steady increase in the number of populations
speaking out through all channels: social partners, credible
and respected associations, especially institutions promoting
gender equality, the local economy, education and informa-
tion.

— a pragmatic approach to be adopted in its definition;

— credible interlocutors with the ability to hold dialogue with
including by setting up

the government to be identified,
independent NGO networks;

— project proposals to be introduced to secure their access to

funding, and local micro-projects to be set up.

3.1.4
Implementing the EPAs is likely to present the same
difficulties. In attempting to achieve a genuine single market
programme and a genuine reform programme, we must
consider that:

— human resource and technical capacity building for civil
society and Africans in general remains precarious, espe-
cially for women;

— if targeting EU aid is necessary to support the factors of
production, then this should be done more effectively, and
more coherent crossborder networks are required in the
context of the EPA programme.

3.1.5
The European Economic and Social Committee notes
that negotiations to conclude EPAs with various regional
blocks have been initiated and hopes that the process will
result in a trade upsurge that contributes towards sustainable
in
development and the eradication of poverty. Nevertheless,
order to ensure that these agreements are genuinely beneficial
to the population, the EESC requests that the following points
be implemented:

— The information disseminated should be as exhaustive as
possible in order to permit the systematic involvement of
civil society organisations in negotiations and impact assess-
ments at national and regional level.

— The private sector should be involved in negotiations and

capacity-building support should be provided.

— Social consequences and gender issues should be included

in impact assessments.

— Flexibility in trade agreements should translate into transi-
tional periods for their implementation that would make it
possible to protect businesses in the signatory States, and
into specific protection for emerging industries and safe-
guard measures to cope with the competition from newly
developed countries.

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— There is a need for States to re-accumulate their own
resources after integrating temporary financial compensa-
tion, possibly in conjunction with the benefits of more flex-
ible measures that enable them to maintain a minimum
level of fiscal autonomy in the trade sector. Indeed States
affected by the loss of public revenue that will result from
reductions in transitional customs duties are already in an
extremely precarious financial situation and are struggling
to ensure minimum public funding for education and
health.

3.1.6
In order to ensure that economic development benefits
as many people as possible and does not result in abuse, the
EESC believes that EU development aid activities in Africa
should take account of the principles of social cohesion and
decent work for all. Compliance with these principles will be
better ensured if there was a genuine social dialogue and, more
generally, if there was a dialogue between civil society organisa-
tions.

The EESC therefore proposes

3.1.7
to: cooperate with
African Economic, Social and Cultural Councils to share experi-
ence and knowledge, as proposed by the European Commission
in its communication (2), particularly with a view to making
them effective partners in sectoral or geographic organisation
of investment and aid;

— contribute its experience and know-how at national level
wherever necessary, to encourage the creation of economic
and social councils in forms which are appropriate to
African cultures in all the countries where they do not
exist, and to promote the renewal of certain existing ESCs
which have lost credibility or become less visible; the Euro-
pean Economic and Social Committee has noted some
encouraging signs: positive developments in the growing
influence of the African Union; the European consensus on
development between the Council,
the European Parlia-
ment, and the European Commission; the networking of
civil
such as
society organisations
farmers, SMEs, social partners, etc.

in certain regions,

This might indicate that the European Union has realised that
civil society is not sufficiently involved and that respect for it
should be incorporated in the new strategy.

3.2 T h e fi g h t a g a i n s t p a n de m i c s

to the AIDS issue,

3.2.1 With respect
the European
Economic and Social Committee calls on all political, economic
and social leaders to pool their efforts. It welcomes a recent
visit to the EESC by leading representatives from the IOE (Inter-
national Organisation of Employers) and the ICFTU (Interna-
tional Confederation of Free Trade Unions). These two organi-
sations have asked the Committee to provide multi-tiered
support for action plans they launched in 2003 in 8 Southern
African countries.

3.2.2
The European Economic and Social Committee should
act as spokesperson for this cause in all arenas, at regional and
local seminars as well as at plenary sessions. Thanks to the

(2) COM(2005) 132 - Speeding up progress towards the Millennium Devel-

opment Goals: The European Union's contribution, April 2005.

educational system and the mobilisation of the family by civil
society stakeholders, a glimmer of hope has been detected for
the first time. The prevalence rate for AIDS is receding in
Senegal, Uganda and Zimbabwe, and life expectancy is rising
once again. However, we must not drop our guard, and the
Commission has
announced programming guidelines on
combating AIDS for its national partners.

3.2.3
The European Economic and Social Committee would
stress that substantial financial resources will be required to
combat HIV/AIDS through permanent prevention policies and
treatment strategies involving effective and simplified therapies
whose costs should be entirely regulated by the World Trade
Organisation TRIPS Agreement (Agreement on Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) as well as support for
research on a reliable and universal vaccine.

3.2.4
The human, social and economic consequences of
pandemics in developing countries, such as the HIV/AIDS
pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa, are already devastating and
place enormous demands on these countries. This is a matter
of absolute urgency since famine situations are emerging in
countries with high AIDS prevalence rates (45-49 %). The EESC
recommends EU action on two levels:

— At world level:

In the framework of the Doha cycle negotiations for the
development of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the
EESC has supported — and continues to support — the
European Commission's view that the countries affected by
such pandemics should be granted favourable access to
drugs. Furthermore, new instruments enable the European
Union to take part in a general debate with UNAIDS, the
Global Fund, the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees and the World Health Organisation.

— At national level:

The EESC's point of departure is that in countries lacking
infrastructure where the authorities do not have enough
resources to provide a minimum service nationwide, civil
society organisations are particularly capable of reaching
the rural populations.

Accordingly — and here the EESC is passing on the request
of its socio-economic partners in the ACP countries — it
calls for specific European funding allowing civil society
organisations to circulate information about pandemics to
the public at large.

The European Economic and Social Committee believes
that an integrated approach towards the three pandemics
(AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis) should be based on civil
society, namely patient associations representing the people
living with the disease. This implies the involvement of civil
society in beneficiary countries.

The European Union must contribute to solving the crisis
in human resources through capacity building in terms of
human and technical resources.

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Equipped with the necessary financial and human resources,
these organisations should be encouraged to establish alli-
ances and partnerships with all stakeholders involved in
fighting pandemics.

Committee would like to act as a custodian of this struggle
since it is an essential priority for all affected countries. For let
us not deceive ourselves — lack of stakeholder involvement has
already given rise to famine.

The European Economic and Social Committee requests
that preventive action — in particular access to family plan-
ning for women — and aid for the sick and their families
be effectively supported by European funding.

The European Economic

3.2.5
and Social Committee
believes that all stakeholders — NGOs, social partners, political
leaders — should intensify their efforts to this end. It considers
that it has a vital coordination role to play between all parties
engaged in this struggle. The European Economic and Social

3.2.6
The European Union should focus on reducing the
costs of pharmaceuticals by forming a special partnership with
the WTO. The EESC calls on the EU Member States to
subscribe to the initiative to provide large-scale and long-term
pharmaceutical financing (Paris Conference, February 2006). It
acknowledges that the initiative should enable closer involve-
ment of the national ESCs by associating them with its imple-
mentation, evaluation and also monitoring, thus helping to
ensure that this new measure is genuinely traceable.

Brussels, 18 May 2006.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Anne-Marie SIGMUND

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Recommendation
of the European Parliament and of the Council on key competences for lifelong learning

(COM(2005) 548 final — 2005/0221 (COD))

(2006/C 195/26)

On 28 November 2005 the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee,
under Article 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 3 May 2006. The rapporteur was Mária Herczog.

At its 427th plenary session, held on 17-18 May 2006 (meeting of 18 May), the European Economic and
Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 124 votes to two, with three abstentions.

1. Executive summary

1.1
The EESC strongly supports the Commission's recom-
mendations concerning key competences for lifelong learning,
which are fully consistent with the Lisbon strategy for a knowl-
edge society and with the Employment Guidelines 2005-2008.

1.2
The EESC feels that the proposal, if implemented, could
help to overcome current problems on the labour market,
particularly in terms of narrowing the gap between economic
needs and preparation of the available workforce.

The focus in training on developing key competences
1.3
could also help to achieve the important common objective of
ensuring that by the end of
initial education and training
young people have developed the key competences to a level

that equips them for adult life and successful participation in
the labour market either as employees or entrepreneurs, and
that adults are able to develop and update these competences
throughout their lives, based on a solid foundation of general
knowledge which is one of
the keys to the capacity for
ongoing adaptation.

1.4
Among the instruments for achieving this objective, the
EESC feels that it is particularly important to prepare teachers
to provide effective support for students in secondary educa-
tion, vocational education and adult education in acquiring key
competences, with teachers themselves acquiring or continu-
ously developing the key competences which they need for
their work.