Europe Seen from Africa

How does the New Europe look like to the Africans of today? To address this question, we have to look at the historical relationship that has evolved between Africa and the Old Continent, including the network of bilateral and multilateral linkages that underpin Euro-African relations in our twenty-first century. Most of the European Union (EU) Member States maintain bilateral diplomatic relations with the various nations of Africa as do African nations with the New Europe. The EU as an organisation maintains a presence at the headquarters of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, while the AU also maintains a representative office in Brussels. The newly established European External Action Service (EEAS) coordinates EU foreign policy as well as the activities of the European legations accredited to African political capitals. The multilateral linkages between Europe and Africa are largely embodied in the EU-Africa Strategic Partnership, on the one hand, and the long-standing cooperation agreement between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, on the other. There is also the bilateral Strategic Partnership between the EU and South Africa.1