Internationale Politikanalyse Europäische Politik, November 2006 Working Group on European Integration* The EU’s New Strategy for Africa: Real and Effective Multilateralism? The 1 European Security Strategy formulates effective multilateralism as method of European foreign policy. What it has in mind is goal-oriented cooperation with other actors, states and international organisations, which governs the coexistence of nations through binding norms. The European Security Strategy lists a number of policy areas to be managed by the Euro­pean Union: first, clearly definable threats such as in­ternational terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; second, the creation of a secure environment for Europe; and third, Europe’s integra­tion into a system of multilateralism. More specific de­velopments are already underway in the areas of ter­rorism and weapons of mass destruction, both of which are issues of a EU strategy developing European policy against these threats. By the EU Strategy for Africa, drafted by the Com­mission in October 2005 and adopted by the European Council in December 2005, the EU has made Africa the first geographically confined ‚testing field’ for the practical feasibility of this effective multilateralism. The various European foreign, security, trade and develop­ment policies vis-à-vis the neighbour continent are now to be coordinated within the framework defined by the Commission. The actual necessity of a coherent approach is underscored by the ESDP operation in the Congo and efforts to thwart illegal immigration along the outside borders of the EU. The hitherto confused and unsorted canon of the EU’s and its individual member states’ policies towards Africa is now to be controlled by the Commission in order to achieve better efficiency of employed means, more efficient efforts and thus a quicker accomplish­ment of set goals. * The Working Group on„European Integration“exists for more than ten years. Its members include experts from European in­stitutions, Federal Ministries, i®åÇÉê representations, associati­ons and science. 1. Characteristics of the Strategy for Africa The Strategy for Africa exemplifies how an ideal-typical European foreign policy should function: a) Embedding into a web of international legitimacy The Strategy for Africa centres around the Millennium Development Goals adopted by the UN General As­sembly in 2000. They form the core of European policy towards Africa by which the EU aims at implementing the MDGs as a whole but especially focuses its policy on the areas of education, health and the struggle against HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, food secu­rity, access to vital resources such as water and energy, as well as sustainable use of the environment. Con­crete steps have been taken in the area of education. The Commission has established a European-African university exchange programme and assists the AU in developing an inter-African exchange programme named Nyerere and modelled after the ERASMUS Pro­gramme. In addition, the instrument of budget support is to be increasingly applied in this area. Besides, broad space is given to the two aspects which are regarded as central preconditions for the implementation of the MDGs: security and good governance on the one hand, and a positive economic environment on the other. By its commitment to continually raise European ODA levels up to 0.7 per cent of GNP by 2015 and its declared intention to employ these resources effi­ciently, the EU follows the international milestones of development cooperation over the last years. Recent developments in Africa, such as the establishment of the African Union(developed out of the Organisation of African Unity), NEPAD(New Partnership for the Economic Development of the Continent, initiated by South Africa and Nigeria) and APRM(African Peer Re­view Mechanism, see below) are also taken up in the Strategy and are to serve as a point of departure for European-African cooperation.