In view of the upcoming African Union–European Union Summit, taking place on 24-25 November 2025 in Luanda (Angola), the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), together with its partners, issues on Monday, 10 November 2025, a joint statement entitled “For a partnership that brings justice for the African people”. The document advocates for “a Europe-Africa partnership grounded in mutual respect and oriented towards promoting integral human development and shared responsibility for our common home”. Download the Statement: EN | FR | PT
Together with the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), Caritas Africa, Caritas MONA, Caritas Europa and CIDSE, COMECE issues an appeal to EU and AU leaders participating in the upcoming summit in Angola, to work together on the building blocks of an equitable partnership between the two regions.
Rooted in the lived experiences of our communities across both continents, this statement calls for a renewed and just partnership between Africa and Europe. The document contains a number of concrete and forward-looking policy orientations and recommendations:
- A vision of partnership grounded in mutual respect, integral ecology and a shared responsibility for our common home;
- A concern that current AU-EU relations risk repeating some extractive patterns of the past, giving priority to short-term geopolitical or economic interests over justice and solidarity;
- A call for fair and democratic energy systems, and for partnerships that promote local value addition and equitable benefit-sharing;
- An appeal to move from EU-centric investment strategies towards people-centred development — revising the Global Gateway model to ensure transparency, local leadership, and genuine partnership rooted in sovereignty, self-sufficiency, and shared accountability.
- A call for a transformation of food systems through agroecology, the protection of farmer-managed seed systems, and an end to the export of highly hazardous pesticides;
- A plea for debt justice, recognising historical injustices and calling for fair, transparent, and human-centred debt resolution mechanisms.
The hope of the cosignatories of the joint document is that European and African decision-makers will place the dignity of the peoples of the two regions at the heart of future AU-EU relations. Previously, COMECE and SECAM issued a joint appeal in the run-up to the EU-AU Ministerial meeting held in Brussels in May 2025.
Download the Statement: EN | FR | PT
