Regions and cities are 'important actor' in EU's partnership with Africa

Jutta Urpilainen, the European Commissioner for International Partnerships, has encouraged the European Union's regions and cities to become more actively engaged in the EU's partnership with Africa, a call that echoes recommendations adopted by the European Committee of the Regions on 21 November.

Commissioner Urpailenen, who was speaking at a debate on the EU's strategy in Africa in the CoR on 20 November, said that local and regional governments and their associations are an "important actor" in the EU's engagement with Africa, through their ideas and their role in implementation of projects in the EU's Global Gateway strategy. She described the strategy as the EU's contribution to the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.

In their recommendations, CoR members underscored the significance of regions and cities to development, pointing to a conclusion of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that 65% of the 169 targets within the SDGs cannot be achieved without effective coordination with local and regional authorities.

The CoR's opinion identifies numerous ways in which the EU should engage more deeply cities and regions in implementing its strategy with Africa, urging the EU to treat local and regional authorities "on a par" with civil society organisations and arguing that EU initiatives in Africa - such as the Global Gateway strategy but also the EU's work in fragile settings - would be improved by involving sub-national authorities in Africa. African cities and regions are on the forefront in addressing rapid urbanisation, which is putting significant pressure on the provision of public services in Africa.

The CoR's opinion, which was drafted by Guido Milana (IT/Renew Europe), member of Olevano Romano Municipal Council, also presses the EU to increase its capacity-building support for local and regional civil services in Africa and to facilitate African regions' and cities' access to funding to help them address such challenges.

The CoR calls for sub-national authorities in the EU and Africa to establish more decentralised cooperation partnerships, with support from the EU. It also argues that the EU should tap the experience of European cities and regions when defining Africa-EU Partnership priorities in areas in which regions and cities generally have significant responsibilities.

The opinion encourages peer-to-peer cooperation between EU and African municipal and regional administrations in areas such as communal services, infrastructure, territorial economic development, local governance, and vocational training.

The European Commission has encouraged EU local and regional authorities to actively support the Global Gateway Africa-Europe Investment Package, by making investment opportunities known to the private sector in their territories and helping to design and implement local-level public-private partnerships.

National leaders from the EU and the African Union are expected to meet at a summit in 2025, to evaluate the state of the Africa-EU- Partnership, which was created in 2000. The European Union remains the largest investor in Africa, the continent's largest trading partner, and its largest provider of humanitarian assistance and development aid.

Quotes:

· Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnerships: "Local and regional authorities are an important actor in the Global Gateway strategy. They deal with everyday challenges at local and regional level and their perspective is essential to understand the details of the context where the Global Gateway is implemented. Effective implementation should also integrate and coordinate efforts of local and regional authorities and other national actors to seize opportunities and better mobilise investments at local level. This is why we engage local and regional authorities all along the policymaking chain. First, at headquarters, their ideas and proposals matter. Secondly, on the ground, via dialogues with EU delegations around the world, including on projects and ways to empower local communities. Thirdly, local and regional authorities have unique added value in complex settings. Where the EU cooperation with central authorities is limited, local and regional authorities are uniquely placed as interlocutors together with civil society organisations."

· Guido Milana (IT/Renew Europe), member of Olevano Romano Municipal Council and CoR rapporteur on 'Regions and municipalities implementing the EU strategy with Africa': "European cities and regions should have a greater role in defining the Africa-EU Partnership priorities in areas in which regions and cities generally have significant responsibilities. Having links between the European system and local systems in Africa will help any kind of process. Local and regional administrations need to be more involved in shaping priorities and actions when territorial impacts are significant. What is happening in Africa is what happened in Europe at the beginning of the 1960s - a great process of urbanisation, of the concentration of inhabitants in big cities, with the depopulation of peripheral areas."