REJUVENATING EU DEMOCRACY SUPPORT IN AFRICA The Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument(NDICI) as a Promising Framework for Action? Nathan Vandeputte June 2020 The NDICI so far fails to provide the adequate framework to re­juvenate EU democracy sup­port. Rather, it restores a tame and depoliticised narrative. Engagement with sub-Saharan African partner countries will further be encouraged, how­ever so far with insufficient guarantees that such relation­ship will be conditioned by re­spect for democratic values. While democratic progress may still be of key interest to the EU, so far it seems to be of less importance as com­pared to other foreign policy interests such as migration, peace and stability. Hence, it remains unclear how or if the EU will respond to sud­den or urgent democratic challenges or opportunities; of which the African conti­nent has been witness.