ABSTRACT
The formal relationship between African nations and the European Union (EU) is the EU’s longest-running external relations arrangement and goes back all the way to the Treaty of Rome of 1957. In charting the evolution of the relationship, this essay identifies key milestones in that relationship as well as sources of fracture. Recently, the EU has reinforced its relationship with Africa through the Comprehensive Strategy with Africa (2020), which articulates the EU’s position vis-à-vis Africa in a global context and suggests a new type of EU engagement on the continent. For more than 60 years, the relationship between the EU and Africa centred on development assistance programmes, including preferential trade cooperation. Yet, due to the longstanding nature of what is known as EU-Africa relations, the African continent has served as an important site for much of the EU’s external relations.
