adminPhilippe Van Damme Special Correspondent
On March 25, the European Union marked 60 years since the signature of the Rome Treaties, the first step towards a united Europe. Since the birth of the European Communities in 1957, the citizens of our member states have enjoyed six decades of unprecedented peace, prosperity and security. The contrast to the first half of the 20th century could not be greater. Two catastrophic wars in Europe between 1914 and 1945 left millions dead, and a continent devastated, divided and prostrate. For countries that had long been at war, European integration has been the most successful peace project in our history.
From the start, Europe projected itself as a force for peace and prosperity, not only within its borders but also in the world. In 1963, the European Communities signed the Yaoundé Association Agreement with 18 African States.
This Agreement was transformed in 1975 in the Lomé Convention with 46 African, Caribbean and Pacific States and was joined by Zimbabwe at Independence. In 2000, the partnership with countries in the South was further broadened with the Cotonou Agreement, revised twice since, each time ratified by Zimbabwe. This Agreement is based on three pillars, a political dialogue on issues of mutual interest, a trade arrangement and development finance cooperation.
Respect for human rights, democratic principles and the rule of law are essential elements of the agreement and good governance is considered fundamental for its effective implementation.
However, we are living in unpredictable times and the 60th anniversary of the Rome Treaties is the opportunity not only to reaffirm our commitment to the values and objectives on which the European project is founded but also to take pragmatic and ambitious steps forward.
The world is going through a time of great uncertainty: the global balance of power is shifting and the foundations of a rules-based international order are too often being questioned. The European Union will be an increasingly vital power to preserve and strengthen the global order.
The EU is the second biggest global economy. We are the largest global market and the leading foreign investor in most parts of the globe, including in Africa. The EU has achieved a strong position by acting together with one voice on the global stage, by playing a key role in removing barriers to trade as a member of the World Trade Organisation, as well as concluding bilateral trade deals with many important partners around the world – such as the recent CETA deal with Canada.
This allowed EU exporting firms to flourish and create over 30 million jobs. In 2012, the European Union and four countries in the Eastern and Southern African Region, including Zimbabwe, ratified an Economic Partnership Agreement, offering their exporters completely tariff and quota free access to the European market and technical and financial support to take full advantage of this preferential trade arrangements. The first fruits are already measurable, notably in Zimbabwe’s horticultural sector.
We invest more in development cooperation and humanitarian aid than the rest of the world combined. The EU is increasingly active as a global security provider.
The European Union is and will continue to be a strong, cooperative and reliable power. Our partners know what we stand for — for multilateralism, for human rights, for international cooperation. We also stand for sustainable development, inclusive societies, the fight against all inequalities – in education, in democracy and human rights. For us, this is not charity: it is also a smart investment in our own security and prosperity.
The European Union is the world’s largest financial donor of development aid. We were instrumental in planning the UN Sustainable Development Goals and are already implementing them as well as working to update the European Consensus on Development Policy. EU development aid goes to around 150 countries in the world and increasingly focuses on the poorest places in the world. In the period 2014-2020, about 75 percent of EU support will go to countries which are often hard hit by natural disasters or conflict, something that makes their citizens particularly vulnerable. The EU is the only donor worldwide which gives support in all countries that are fragile or suffer from conflict.
Even during difficult times, the EU never abandoned the people of Zimbabwe. In the period 2002-2014 the EU provided EUR 520 million in development assistance, mainly in the social sectors and on food security and resilience building, and EUR 190 million in humanitarian assistance. Including the EU member States, we provided over EUR 2 billion in development finance cooperation.
After the lifting of the appropriate measures in November 2014 which had limited the EU’s development assistance to direct support to the populations, a national indicative programme was signed with the Government of Zimbabwe for the period 2014-2020 for an initial amount of EUR 234 million, covering health, agriculture and governance and institution building.
This renewed partnership allows for a more structural approach in support of the Government’s own reform agenda, including its “Strategies for clearing external debt arrears and the supportive economic reform agenda” presented to the international community in Lima in September 2015, although funding continues to be channelled through international agencies and civil society organisations.
We stand for better global rules, rules that protect people against abuse, rules that expand rights and raise standards. It is thanks to our engagement – the Union together with its Member States – that the global community has set up innovative agreements like the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development. In a world of re-emerging power politics, the European Union will have an even more significant role to play.
A more fragile international environment calls for greater engagement, not for retrenchment. This is why the EU will continue to support and help the United Nations: our cooperation with the UN covers peace missions, diplomatic efforts, human rights, tackling hunger and fighting criminality. The European Union is also a strong and active partner of regional organisations like the Africa Union, Comesa or Sadc.
The European Union also stands ready to help those affected by natural and man-made disasters.
Humanitarian crises continue to take a heavy toll internationally, and in 2016 the EU allocated relief assistance of over €1.5 billion for food, shelter, protection and healthcare to 120 million people in over 80 countries.
The EU has been, since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, the largest single donor of humanitarian aid to care for the millions of men, women and children displaced by the conflict.
Any country in the world can call on the EU Civil Protection Mechanism for help. Since its launch in 2001, it has intervened in some of the most devastating disasters the world has faced, like the earthquake in Haiti (2010), the triple-disaster in Japan (2011), the floods in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (2014), the Ebola outbreak (2014), the conflict in Ukraine (2014), the earthquake in Nepal (2015), the refugee crisis in Europe and Hurricane Matthew in Haiti (2016). In response to the El Nino induced drought, the EU mobilised EUR 23 million, and together with the member States, the European response exceeds EUR 100 million.
Whatever events may bring in the future, one thing is certain: the EU will continue to put promoting international peace and security, development cooperation, human rights and responding to humanitarian crises at the heart of its foreign and security policies. In the world – and in Zimbabwe.
Ambassador Philippe Van Damme is the Head of the EU Delegation to Zimbabwe.
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