ZEI Monitor: EU Progress 2019-2024

International Cooperation

Financial Sovereignty

Africa Strategy

• Towards a Comprehensive Strategy with Africa: On the 9th of March 2020, the European Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell jointly submitted a Communication to the European Parliament and the Council. In it, they propose to establish five partnerships that shall lead to a comprehensive EU partnership with Africa:
  

1. A partnership for green transition and energy access;

2. A partnership for digital transformation;

3. A partnership for sustainable growth and jobs;

4. A partnership for peace and governance;

and 5. A partnership on migration and mobility.

Enlargement

Eastern Partnership

• Eastern Partnership Policy beyond 2020: On the 18th of March 2020, the European Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell submitted a Joint Communication proposing a revised Eastern Partnership policy beyond 2020 to reinforce mutual resilience. According to the document, the established incentive-based approach and bilateral cooperation should remain the prime ways of interaction. The Commission intends to speed up the implementation of bilateral agreements and to complement them with a deeper sectoral cooperation and exchange between interested partner countries, ultimately accomplishing a higher degree of regional integration. This chiefly concerns two areas:

1. Economic Policy: This will entail increased trade and further regional and bilateral integration of the economies of partner countries and the EU, together with cooperation for progressive decarbonization towards climate neutrality, embracing the opportunities from the twin ecological and digital transformation.
2. Rule of law: The EU’s support for resilient institutions, the rule of law and security will include: (i) proposing ways to better measure the impact of judicial reforms; (ii) consider progress in rule of law reforms when deciding on assistance; (iii) reinvigorating EU support for fighting corruption and economic crime; (iv) improving cross-border cooperation to better protect people against organized crime; and (v) stepping up support for security dialogues and cooperation.

Human Rights, Democracy and Gender Equality

WTO Reform