The European Union (EU) is a family of democratic European countries, committed to working together for peace and prosperity. The EU embraces 27 countries and 490 million people, and it deals with a wide range of issues of direct importance for everyday life. Its member states have set up common institutions to which they delegate some of their sovereignty so that decisions on specific matters of joint interest can be made democratically at European level.
Relations between the EU and Africa have traditionally been conducted through two regional groupings: the African countries that are part of the ACP group (African, Caribbean and Pacific states) and the African countries of the Mediterranean. However, at the beginning of the new millennium, the European Union launched a new dialogue with Africa to build a strategic partnership with the entire continent which would strengthen existing measures. The first summit between the EU and Africa was held in Cairo in April 2000.
Over the last few decades, the European Commission and its Member States have concluded an increasing number of agreements with Africa. The Lomé I Agreement, signed in 1975, was the first framework agreement with the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa as part of the ACP group of states. A number of subsequent Lomé Agreements led to the Cotonou Agreement, signed in 2000 and revised in 2005, with the 48 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Further agreements have been concluded, including the Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) with South Africa, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and Association Agreement, together with the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), which aims to promote the prosperity, stability and security of Europe's immediate neighbours. |
