Dear <<First name>>,
Egypt will be the second North African country to chair the African Union this year, exactly ten years after Gaddafi’s Libya. So much has happened since. Accordingly, also the relationship that ‘Arab Africa’ has with the rest of the continent and with the European Union has evolved in these years. To examine the shifting roles and priorities of North Africa and of the political actors that have influence in the region, we wrote two papers. The first one, published this week, looks at Europe-Africa relations from a North African viewpoint. Keen to keep the special rapport with the EU, while at the same time looking to increase their economic ties with Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa does not seem too enthusiastic about the much-touted continent-to-continent approach.
For the European Union, these days North Africa has often been associated with migration, as the region is a key channel to Europe. As a follow-up to the publication of our Challenges Paper, now also available in French, we looked at those trends in Africa’s migration policies that are likely to surface in the coming months.
The team and I are much looking forward to discussing all these Africa-Europe related questions at tonight’s launch of the Challenges Paper at the Finnish Permanent Representation in Brussels. We hope to see you there.
All the best,
Virginia
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