European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker proposed today during his last State of the Union speech a new ‘Africa – Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investments and Jobs’.

In response, Friederike Röder, EU and France Director at The ONE Campaign, said:

“President Juncker is setting out a vision of what an Africa-Europe partnership could look like, in the best interests of African and European citizens. It is indeed urgent that we define the terms of a true balanced partnership with Africa which goes beyond traditional development cooperation and benefits both continents. But this should not be an excuse for the EU to avoid fulfilling its international commitments in the fight against extreme poverty.

If the EU is serious about its role as a global leader and in partnering with Africa, it needs to reflect this in its next seven-year budget. The current Multiannual Financial Framework proposal is underwhelming and does not put the EU on track to fulfil its promise to allocate 0.7% of GNI to development aid by 2030.

Aid is not charity, it’s an investment in our common future. Today, more than 100 million children in Africa are out of school. Europe can’t tell those children that their dream of learning to read and write is “a thing of the past.”

Link to the EC press release: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-5702_en.htm