Africa-Press – Botswana. The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, regretted that Africa was practically absent from the State of the Union speech, arguing that the European Union (EU) cannot just pay attention to the African continent on the occasion of summits.
Speaking to news agencies in Strasbourg, including Lusa, Metsola made an overall positive assessment of the speech given by the President of the European Commission, classifying it as “optimistic and courageous”, but pointed out some flaws, assuming that I would have liked to hear stronger ambitions in terms of the environment and the fight against climate change and more references to certain topics, such as migration, defense and Africa.
“Some MPs also asked for more references to Africa (…) It is particularly problematic for me to see that we don’t talk enough about these issues. We only talk about the African continent when we have summits. The EU-Africa summit brings together all the leaders, there are many promises and then we look to the side”, he said.
“We don’t talk enough about investment, we don’t talk enough about economic partnerships, we don’t talk enough about cooperating with African countries,” he continued.
According to the Maltese leader, Europe needs to look more towards Africa “especially now”, both “from the energy point of view, as well as concerns about democracy and human rights violations in some countries”, but also in view of the “extremely great potential” that African partners have that they would like the EU to help take advantage of.
“We are not doing enough,” he lamented
In a speech lasting about an hour, Von der Leyen dedicated just a few seconds to Africa, to give an account of the bet on “world-class technology” in Africa, with the announcement of two factories for the production of vaccines, whose approach “will be replicated” in Latin America.
“Together with our African partners, we are building two factories in Rwanda and Senegal to manufacture mRNA (messenger RNA) vaccines. These will be manufactured in Africa, for Africa, with world-class technology”, announced the President of the European Commission.
Despite the flaws pointed out, Metsola commented that, “overall, the speech was welcomed” by the assembly, “namely in terms of the strength of solidarity with Ukraine, investment in the reconstruction of schools”, and also the “emphasis on youth”.
The Portuguese MEP João Pimenta Lopes, from PCP, considered that yesterday’s State of the Union speech recognized “the brutal impact” that the policy of sanctions on Russia has on the Union itself, regretting that this course is still maintained.
Speaking to the press after attending the State of the European Union speech delivered by Ursula Von der Leyen at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the communist deputy highlighted “the recognition of the brutal impact that the sanctions policies defined by the EU are having to have on the socio-economic situation of the people of the different Member States, but that this is a path to continue”.
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