18.8.2006   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 195/104

—

Governance that meets the following specifications:

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

—

Combating AIDS

1.1

On 12 October 2005, the European Commission adopted a Communication to the Council, the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee on the EU Strategy for Africa: Towards a Euro-African pact to accelerate Africa's development.

1.2

The EESC agrees with the broad thrust and consistent 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.

1.4

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

1.5

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

1.6

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

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.

2.2

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

2.3

The obvious conclusion, then, is that 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 ‘hypocrisy’ manifested by industrialised countries.

2.4

Ongoing sustained migrations are expected to result in ‘pressure that will continue to rise in the coming years. There will be a substantial increase in the population of Africa 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 long term. The President of the Commission shares these concerns since he has stated that ‘we must strike at the structural 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.

2.5

The European Economic and Social Committee takes full note of the Communication's objectives, namely to:

2.6

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

2.7

If the initial ambition is to be respected, three prerequisites must be fulfilled:

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 these resources will be dedicated to Africa. However, the 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 undeniable!

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 democratisation 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.

2.10

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

2.11

The European Economic and Social Committee would also reiterate that rural development, a frequently underestimated 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.

2.13

The European Economic and Social Committee calls for the total cessation of all forms of direct budgetary support.

2.14

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

—

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.

3.1.1

The European Economic and Social Committee supports the European Commission's intention to make sub-Saharan Africa a priority area for EU development aid. Nevertheless, if this measure is to be effective, it must be accompanied 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 independence (which needs strengthening), their proximity to the population and pro-activism, civil society organisations can help the populations directly concerned to take greater possession of development policies. The reasons for Africa's disintegration are indeed diverse, but civil society's lack of independence 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

The European Economic and Social Committee therefore recommends:

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:

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:

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 development and the eradication of poverty. Nevertheless, in order to ensure that these agreements are genuinely beneficial to the population, the EESC requests that the following points be implemented:

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 organisations.

3.1.7

The EESC therefore proposes to: cooperate with African Economic, Social and Cultural Councils to share experience 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;

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.

3.2.1

With respect to the AIDS issue, 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 (International Organisation of Employers) and the ICFTU (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions). These two organisations 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 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:

3.2.5

The European Economic 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 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.

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 involvement of the national ESCs by associating them with its implementation, evaluation and also monitoring, thus helping to ensure that this new measure is genuinely traceable.