Evolution of the European Union's Strategic Priorities in Africa in the 2020s

This article examines the evolution of the EU’s strategic priorities in Africa from 2020 to 2026. The transformation of priorities took place under the influence of migration, COVID-19 and energy crises. This significantly distinguishes these years from the previous intensification of contacts in 2005–2007, before the financial crisis and during active globalization. Amid energy challenges and to gain independence, the EU focused on Africa to diversify routes, suppliers and sources of energy. In 2022, a package of 150 billion EUR was announced under the Global Gateway initiative for 2021–2027, prioritizing energy and climate. The second priority was transport and logistics. It is necessary for the export of critical raw materials used in the development of European green technologies. Using comparative and systematic approaches, as well as elements of discourse analysis, the present research is based on the strategic documents on EU-Africa relations of 2005, 2007, and 2020, declarations of the 2022 and 2025 EU-AU summits, the 2023 Samoa Agreement, as well as data from the Global Gateway initiative and comments from the European Parliament. The author concludes that in the new realities, relations have undergone a strategic rollback to the situation before the mid-2000s, and EU policy is criticized for unequal benefits and value conditionality. It is based on the desire to diversify as well as to meet global technological shifts (digitalization) and eliminate new threats, but it is still far from striving for an equal partnership, especially amid intense competition for the region with China, the UAE, and Turkey.

COVID-19 pandemic · critical raw materials · digitalization · energy crisis · energy diversification · EU-Africa relations · migration policy · transport and logistics · European Politics and Security · European Union Policy and Governance · Global Political and Social Dynamics