When the European Union fêted its “renewed partnership” with the African Union at a major summit in Brussels last month there was no mention of a separate, painstakingly negotiated, deal with dozens of — often the same — African states that has been stuck in limbo for months.
The Post-Cotonou Agreement covers legal, political and economic relations between the EU and 79 countries from the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States. Framing cooperation on issues like human rights, climate change, and crucially, migration, the EU commissioner responsible for development policy, Jutta Urpilainen, said in December 2020 that it marked a “new era” and will “allow us to better deal with the new realities and challenges as global actors.”
Urpilainen spent much of the first half of her mandate negotiating the text, and was not afraid to remind the OACPS in the summer of 2020 that some in Europe had opposed replacing the previous 2000 Cotonou Agreement at all.