{"id":29998,"title":"Europe’s Struggles for Influence in Africa in Light of the Kremlin’s Invasion","link":"https:\/\/bst-europe.eu\/de\/europe-in-the-world\/europes-struggles-for-influence-in-africa-in-light-of-the-kremlins-invasion\/","date":"5. April 2022","date_unix":1649152100,"date_modified_unix":1759825351,"date_iso":"2022-04-05T09:48:20+00:00","content":"

With great difficulty, the European Union (EU) expanded its partnership with the African Union (AU) at a <\/em>summit in Brussels<\/em><\/a> in February – economy, trade, climate, health, and migration are major challenges for the relationship. Less than a week later, Russia invaded Ukraine. Both countries are important wheat suppliers for many African states, which are now threatened with high prices and shortages. Moscow is also militarily engaged in Africa to the strategic detriment of the EU. China challenges with huge investments. What the additional political and financial costs mean for the start of the new EU-AU partnership \u2013 an overview:<\/em><\/p>\n

Africa Matters to Europe<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Geographical proximity, colonial history, and the wide variety of human relations make Africa an important partner for Europe. The EU wants to benefit economically from the neighbouring continent’s riches and its great potential to produce green energy. In addition, Europe has a genuine interest in Africa’s political stability as it seeks to ward off spill-over effects resulting from forced migration, armed conflicts, and the consequences of climate change.<\/p>\n

African societies, in turn, also have an interest in cooperating more closely with the European Union as they expect more jobs and prosperity from an upgraded partnership. However, while all of this might provide for a win-win situation in principle, there are quite some challenges.<\/p>\n

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A value below 100% means import dependency. Source: FAOSTAT<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Outfall of the Russian war in Africa \u2013 food security more affected<\/strong><\/h2>\n

While, at the writing of this article, guns have yet to be silenced in Ukraine, and the fate of the country remains unclear, governments around the world are „bracing for impact.“ Both Ukraine and Russia are major cereals producers, and prices for basic staple foods have been rising substantially – adding to the pandemic’s socio-economic damage.<\/p>\n

As food expenses make up a greater percentage of household budgets in low-income countries than in high-income countries, African countries will be hit in particular. \u00a0Not the least because several states like Somalia, Botswana, and Kenya have been dealing with terrible droughts which have devastated their agricultural production.<\/p>\n

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Six dead giraffes: Kenya drought horror captured in single picture https:\/\/t.co\/Q3KNIihrDR<\/a><\/p>\n

— The Guardian (@guardian) December 15, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n