As the EU and African Union seek to make up for the time lost in 2020 by accelerating talks on a new ‘strategic partnership’ covering political and economic cooperation, one of the risks is that the high-level political talks take place in a vacuum, with little regard for local communities.
African civil society activists already complain that they have been left out of the consultation process thus far.
“The relationship between civil society and government is very difficult,” Million Belay, co-ordinator of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, told EURACTIV. “I don’t expect African countries to be consulting with civil society organisations.”