What changed

B100477/2025

B100470/2025

European Parliament resolution on renewing the EU-Africa Partnership: building common priorities ahead of the Angola Summit

(2025/2933(RSP))

– having regard to the seventh EU-African Union (AU) Summit which takes place on 24 and 25 November 2025 in Luanda, Angola,

having regard to the European Union’s Global Gateway strategy and the European Union–African Union (EU-AU)) strategic partnership,

– having regard to the outcomesPartnership ofAgreement previousbetween EU-AUthe Summits,European inUnion particularand its Member States, of the sixthone EU-AUpart, Summitand heldthe onmembers 17of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and 18Pacific FebruaryStates, 2022of inthe Brussels,other part,

– having regard to its resolutions on Africa-EU relations, notably its resolution of 25 March 2021 on a new EU-Africa Strategy – a partnership for sustainable and inclusive development,

– having regard to the Partnership agreement between the EU and its Member States, of the one part, and the Members of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), of the other part (the Samoa Agreement),

– having regard to the Joint Africa-EU Strategy adopted on 9 December 2007 in Lisbon,

– having regard to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),

– having regard to the AU’s Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want,

– having regard to the Sevilla Commitment,

– having regard to the Agreement adopted at the 21st Conference of Parties in Paris on 12 December 2015 (Paris Agreement),

– having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

– having regard to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights,

– having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

– having regard to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement, which entered into force on 30 May 2019,

– having regard to the Constitutive Act of the African Union and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance,

– having regard to Rule 136(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas Africa and Europe are neighbouring continents with closely interlinked futures; whereas Europe and Africa are long standing partners across multiple fields, such as sustainable development and trade, peace and security, energy and climate change, migration, digital transformation, health, education and culture; whereas both continents face common and interconnected challenges in increasingly complex geopolitical realities;

A. whereas the European Union (EU)-African Union Summit will take place in Luanda, Angola, on 24-25 November 2025, marking the 25th anniversary of the launch of the EU-AU strategic partnership at the Cairo Summit in 2000, and is expected to serve as a key milestone in redefining priorities, strengthening mutual commitments and responding to evolving global challenges affecting both continents;

B. whereas the seventh EU-AU Summit, taking place on 24 and 25 November 2025 in Luanda, Angola, marks 25 years of the Africa-EU partnership, focusing on strengthening cooperation in key areas, such as peace and security, economic integration, trade, multilateralism, green development, digitalisation, migration, mobility and human development;

B. whereas Africa holds an essential geopolitical position and is home to a significant share of the world’s critical raw materials, including cobalt, lithium, rare earths and copper, which are indispensable for new technologies; whereas Africa is increasingly becoming a theatre of great power competition, notably through the growing presence of China and Russia, and the EU needs to reassess its role in this context;

C. whereas the Samoa Agreement between the EU and the OACPS provides a renewed overarching legal and political framework for cooperation between equal partners based on shared commitments and responsibilities; whereas its effective implementation requires transparency, inclusiveness and the genuine participation of parliaments, civil society and youth organisations on both continents;

C. whereas the EU is Africa’s leading partner in trade, investment, development initiatives and humanitarian aid, and has earmarked over EUR 150 billion under the Global Gateway initiative for African infrastructure until 2027, to support connectivity, the green transition, health and education, and research projects;

D. whereas the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 SDGs remain the only universal, overarching and comprehensive framework for eradicating poverty, fighting inequality and climate change, and ensuring prosperity and peace for all; whereas current progress falls alarmingly short of what is required to meet the SDGs, with only 17 % of the SDG targets on track; whereas the SDGs must continue serving as the guiding compass for Africa-EU cooperation, ensuring policy coherence for sustainable development across trade, climate, finance, migration and peacebuilding; whereas the EU and Africa share the responsibility to accelerate progress towards achieving these goals through a partnership grounded in solidarity, mutual respect, accountability and tangible results;

D. whereas the EU and its Member States collectively remain the largest provider of official development assistance to Africa, contributing EUR 163 billion from 2011 to 2023, representing nearly 45 % of total official development assistance to the continent, through both bilateral assistance and instruments such as the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument, and its predecessors, as well as through the European Peace Facility, and the Global Gateway framework;

E. whereas the AU’s Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want represents Africa’s own long-term blueprint for inclusive growth, regional integration, gender equality and sustainable development;

E. whereas illegal migration flows from and through Africa remain a major concern for the EU, with significant human, political and security implications; whereas cooperation on the return and readmission of illegal migrants, and prevention of illegal migration, remains limited with many of the countries of origin and transit, despite extensive EU support;

F. whereas the European Parliament and the Pan-African Parliament are central democratic institutions representing the voices of the peoples of Europe and Africa, and play a vital role in ensuring transparency, accountability and public participation within the Africa-EU partnership;

F. whereas research suggests that development aid provided under the current policy framework does not sufficiently reduce migration and may, in fact, increase it in the short-to-medium term; whereas the same studies have concluded that migration cannot be addressed solely through development aid, given that the ‘root causes’ cannot be universally defined; whereas there is also an increasing need to focus on border protection;

G. whereas recent significant budget cuts by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other major development and bilateral actors have put essential programmes in health, education, food security, governance, and civil society support across Africa at risk; whereas the funding cuts occur at a time when African countries are facing multiple crisis, including conflicts, debt distress, climate change shocks and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic;

G. whereas the African continent is expected to experience the most significant demographic growth globally, with its population projected to reach nearly 2.5 billion by 2050; whereas Africa’s rapid population growth will fuel illegal immigration to the EU;

H. whereas the EU is the largest humanitarian aid donor in Africa; whereas the global humanitarian system is facing an unprecedented funding crisis, with only 43 % of the USD 50 billion UN humanitarian appeal being met in 2024;

H. whereas the Sahel region faces increasing instability, characterised by military coups, terrorism, cross-border trafficking and weakening state institutions;

I. whereas according to the UN Development Programme’s Human Development Report 2023-24, 23 African countries remain in the low human development category, and inequality continues to be one of the main barriers to achieving the SDGs; whereas the wealth gap and inequality, both within and between countries, in the EU and Africa are increasing, hindering sustainable development;

I. whereas the Democratic Republic of the Congo remains mired in conflict, with the M23 rebel group and other armed actors accused of grave human rights violations and destabilisation, and of receiving external support, notably from Rwanda;

J. whereas in 2025 the World Bank estimates that over 430 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa still live in extreme poverty, and that income inequality has widened, with the richest 10 % of households capturing over half of total income;

J. whereas Islamist terrorist groups, such as Boko Haram, Islamic State in West Africa Province and Fulani, as well as other affiliates of al-Qaeda and Daesh, have intensified their activities across several African regions, notably in the Sahel, Nigeria, northern Mozambique and parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo;

K. whereas several countries and regions in Africa continue to face persistent insecurity, violent conflicts, terrorism, political instability and humanitarian crises;

K. whereas the growing Islamist insurgency and terrorism in Africa has led to a resurgence in massacres, kidnappings, forced displacements and widespread insecurity;

L. whereas the Africa-EU partnership must be based on the promotion of democracy and good governance, the protection of human rights and the creation of safe, legal and dignified pathways, with a forward-looking approach needed to tackle the root causes of mobility and migration;

L. whereas Christians remain the most persecuted religious community in the world, with massacres of Christians increasing; whereas one-in-five Christians in Africa are being persecuted;

M. whereas climate change and environmental degradation threaten lives and livelihoods across Africa, despite the continent’s minimal contribution to global emissions, and whereas joint EU-AU leadership is essential to achieve a just and green transition;

1. Notes that the holding of the EU-African Union Summit is a vital opportunity to redefine and rebalance the EU-AU strategic partnership based on mutual respect, sovereignty and shared interests;

N. whereas gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls are prerequisites for sustainable development, peace and prosperity; whereas women and girls continue to face structural discrimination, gender-based violence, and limited access to education, healthcare and decision-making;

2. Emphasises that this partnership must move beyond donor-recipient dynamics and reflect common strategic interests in security, peace, prosperity and migration control;

O. whereas civil society organisations, trade unions, youth movements and local authorities are essential to promoting democratic dialogue, inclusion and social justice within Africa-EU cooperation;

3. Calls for a particular focus on the Sahel region during the summit; recalls that the increasing destabilisation of the Sahel region poses a significant threat to Europe, particularly in terms of illegal migration and terrorism; notes that the involvement of foreign mercenary companies has further exacerbated the security collapse in the region;

1. Reaffirms the EU’s strong commitment to a renewed and genuine partnership between equals with the AU and African states, based on shared values, common interests and solidarity in addressing global challenges, and based on effective cooperation that delivers benefits for people on both continents and reflects joint commitment to democracy, human rights, social justice, peace and common but differentiated responsibilities towards sustainable development;

4. Calls for an urgent audit of EU development funding and reiterates its call to cease the funding of ideological projects, such as the provision of blenders for food preparation in schools in Africa that do not have electricity; recalls that aid must reach the intended recipients and not be used to fuel corruption;

2. Calls for the ratification and full implementation of the Samoa Agreement and its Africa-EU regional protocol as the legal and political framework for the partnership, ensuring that all commitments are translated into measurable outcomes through transparent and participatory mechanisms involving parliaments and civil society on both continents; calls on all EU Member States and African partners to complete ratification without delay, enabling a transition from provisional application to full entry into force;

5. Welcomes regional initiatives promoting domestic resource mobilisation, notably in financing for education and job creation, and stresses the need to encourage similar initiatives;

3. Stresses that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the AU’s Agenda 2063 must remain the guiding frameworks for joint cooperation, ensuring coherence between global and continental goals and the alignment of all EU external policies, including trade, finance, climate and migration, with sustainable and inclusive development objectives, and should align all political and financial frameworks including the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe (NDICI – Global Europe) and the Global Gateway strategy with the SDGs and the Paris Agreement, ensuring social, environmental and economic impact across both continents;

6. Stresses that all available tools must be used to put pressure on non-EU countries to take back their citizens who have been staying illegally or who have committed criminal acts in the EU; notes that such tools could include the use of conditionalities for development aid, trade and visa-free travel;

4. Calls for the establishment of a genuine new strategic partnership of equals between the EU and the AU, building on the Joint Vision for 2030 adopted at the sixth EU-AU Summit in Brussels, and guided by the shared priorities of prosperity, peace and governance, human development and environmental stewardship;

7. Stresses furthermore that the EU’s development cooperation must be conditional on good governance and effective cooperation on migration and border control, including the application of return and readmission agreements;

5. Regrets the recent budget reductions by USAID and other major international actors, which threaten vital programmes in health, education and governance in Africa; calls strongly for the EU and its Member States to reaffirm their commitment to predictable and long-term development financing, shielded from geopolitical or fiscal short-termism;

8. Urges the Commission and the Member States to conclude binding migration partnership agreements with African countries, focused on both the reduction of illegal migration and on facilitating the return of illegal migrants; stresses that there is no need for additional legal pathways for migration to the EU;

6. Expresses deep concern about the mounting debt burden facing many African countries; calls for the EU to support comprehensive debt restructuring and reform of the international financial architecture to ensure fairer terms, transparency and credit rating; recognises that women, often overrepresented in the public sector, are disproportionally vulnerable to and impacted by budget cuts; emphasises, therefore, the importance of including a gender perspective in debt collection;

9. Highlights the strategic importance of African raw materials for European supply chains; calls for fair, transparent and sustainable resource partnerships;

7. Notes the ambition to make EU external action more coherent and effective through the Global Europe Instrument and investments under the Global Gateway strategy; recalls that this strategy is mainly funded through NDICI – Global Europe and, therefore, must align with development objectives, notably its primary objective of reducing and ultimately eradicating poverty, and the SDGs, which must go hand in hand with accountability, transparency and parliamentary oversight;

10. Notes that Global Gateway is burdened by bureaucracy and social and environmental standards, which make it impossible for European companies to compete with Chinese companies’ growing influence in the region;

8. Stresses its strong support for the extension and systematic use of the EU inequality marker across all external action instruments and programmes, including those related to the Africa-EU partnership;

11. Condemns the ongoing violence and external interference in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; welcomes the peace agreement signed on 27 June 2025, in Washington, under US mediation, by Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo aimed at de-escalating tensions and ending Rwandan support of armed groups in eastern Congo; stresses, however, that this agreement will only be meaningful if followed by concrete, transparent and verifiable steps, including the immediate cessation of cross-border interference, the protection of civilians, and the full re-establishment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s territorial control;

9. Underlines that official development a0ssistance (ODA) remains indispensable; calls on the Member States to sustain and step up progress toward the long-standing UN target of allocating 0.7 % of gross national income to ODA, and to increase the share directed to low-income countries and fragile states, in line with EU and international commitments; notes with disappointment that women’s rights organisations receive less than one percent of global ODA, and that SDG5 persists to be among the least-funded SDGs, while improvements in SDG5 prove a cross-cutting driver for sustainable development; reiterates that women-led organisations are often best adept at responding to humanitarian crises; calls on the international community to set ambitious funding targets for women’s rights organisations;

12. Recalls that Christians are the most persecuted religious community in the world; calls on the Nigerian Government to ensure that the Christian community is safe from violence and persecution;

10. Calls for the EU and its African partners to intensify cooperation to combat tax avoidance, tax evasion and base erosion, and illicit financial flows, the use of tax havens, tax abuse by multinational corporations and other illicit financial flows; emphasises the urgency for ensuring a fair division of taxing rights between nation states and supports Brazil’s initiative for the creation of a global wealth tax for high net worth individuals equal to 2 % of their wealth;

13. Underlines that churches are vital providers of essential social services in Africa; calls on the Commission to involve these partners in the implementation of EU programmes; calls on the Commission and the European External Action Service in this context to promote dialogue with churches in partner countries;

11. Emphasises the urgent need for climate justice and a just green transition; recognises climate change as a defining common challenge and an opportunity for collaboration and decent job creation in the spirit of mutual benefit; calls for leveraging Africa-EU co-investment and boosting local manufacturing of key green technologies in Africa; welcomes the Africa-Europe Green Energy Initiative; calls for the joint implementation of the African Single Electricity Market and cross-border interconnections to enable continental energy integration; stresses that the green transition is a dual-continent agenda encompassing climate mitigation and adaptation and the circular economy;

14. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the European Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the African Union, the governments of all European Union and African Union Member States and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

12. Reiterates its call for the EU to deliver its fair share of climate finance for African adaptation and mitigation efforts, prioritising early-warning systems, sustainable agriculture and protection of biodiversity; supports African initiatives such as the Great Green Wall and NaturAfrica, which link environmental protection with job creation and rural development;

13. Acknowledges that agriculture remains the backbone of many African economies and a key area of Africa-EU cooperation; demands that trade and investment partnerships support inclusive value chains, agroecological practices, food sovereignty and climate resilience in rural areas;

14. Reaffirms that sustainable peace is a prerequisite for development and prosperity; expresses its deep concern about the persistence of violent conflict, terrorism, extremism and unconstitutional changes of government in several African regions; calls for strengthening the AU’s Peace and Security Architecture with African ownership and leadership, focusing on conflict prevention, climate security risk assessments, mediation and post-conflict reconstruction; stresses that security cooperation must fully comply with international law and prioritise civilian protection and governance reform;

15. Stresses that the fight against disinformation, digital foreign interference and media capture must be a strategic axis of the Africa-EU partnership; supports joint monitoring of digital integrity, the exchange of best practices and capacity building of independent media and civil society digital actors;

16. Supports enhanced collaboration and exchange in the fields of health sovereignty, research, education and digital transformation, including partnerships for local vaccine production, fair data governance, digital skills and innovation ecosystems;

17. Calls for a rights-based approach to migration and mobility, ensuring safe and regular pathways, the protection of refugees and displaced persons and the fair treatment of migrants; stresses that cooperation on migration must prioritise human dignity, development and legal mobility rather than the externalisation of border control; stresses that all migration cooperation must respect international law and human rights;

18. Acknowledges the vital role of diaspora communities in deepening ties between Africa and Europe; encourages structured dialogue with diaspora networks and support for initiatives that link remittances and entrepreneurship to sustainable development in countries of origin;

19. Reaffirms that human rights, democracy and the rule of law are core pillars of the Africa-EU partnership; calls for enhanced support for civil society, human rights defenders, independent media and youth movements; warns against the shrinking civic space;

20. Is concerned by the escalation of violence against women; stresses the central role of gender equality and women’s empowerment in all dimensions of the Africa-EU partnership; calls for women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in political, economic and peace processes; reiterates that sexual violence is a war crime and that those responsible for it must be held accountable; calls strongly for the EU and the AU to take immediate joint action to eliminate gender-based violence and discrimination;

21. Notes with grave concern the widespread evidence of illegal mining and mineral smuggling, and the resulting negative impact on stability and development in resource-rich regions; stresses the joint commitment to mining and trading critical raw materials, essential for the digital and green transitions, in a way that does not harm people and the environment; calls for the suspension of trade in critical raw materials whose origin cannot be verified as free from conflict or blood minerals;

22. Considers that addressing decent job creation, youth employment, education and participation is vital to the stability and future prosperity of both continents; calls for scaled-up investment in quality education, vocational training, digital literacy and youth entrepreneurship, including through Africa-EU flagship programmes;

23. Underlines the importance of institutionalising the parliamentary dimension of future EU-AU summits as an integral component of their framework in order to ensure citizen representation, public oversight and a democratic contribution to the deliberations and outcomes of the Africa-EU partnership;

24. Supports revitalising the Joint Parliamentary Assembly between the European Parliament and the Pan-African Parliament as a forum for democratic dialogue and oversight; encourages regular thematic meetings between parliamentary committees from both continents to ensure accountability within the Africa-EU partnership;

25. Calls for the European Parliament and the Pan-African Parliament to convene a joint oversight hearing 24 months after the seventh Summit to review progress, bottlenecks and propose adjustments in the implementation of the various commitments; requests that the European Parliament and the Pan-African Parliament receive a joint mid-term assessment report on summit commitments prior to the hearing;

26. Calls for the forthcoming EU-AU Summit to mark a turning point toward a genuine partnership of equals, capable of delivering shared solutions to global challenges, such as fighting inequality, combating climate change, finding peace and advancing digital transformation; reaffirms that only through mutual trust, solidarity and justice can Europe and Africa shape a fairer and more sustainable world;

27. Welcomes Africa’s admission as a permanent member of the G20 and supports greater African representation in global governance, including a permanent seat for Africa on the UN Security Council; urges the AU and the EU to coordinate closely in multilateral forums to defend democracy, the rule of law and the multilateral system against protectionism and authoritarian and unilateral trends; encourages the AU and the EU to deepen existing coordination mechanisms to harmonise positions on reforms of the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organisation and the UN, and to present joint reform proposals by the next G20 cycle;

28. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the European Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the African Union Commission, the Pan-African Parliament, the governments and parliaments of the EU Member States and the African Union Member States and to the Secretaries-General of the UN and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States.