EU Ambassador responds (For)
ON reading the opinion published in the Daily Graphic on 5 April, 2017 entitled “The end of the European Union (EU) as we know it,” I was reminded of the apocryphal headline from the London Times of 1957 “Fog in Channel: Continent cut off.”
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The knowledge of Europe displayed in the article is mainly about the 1960s and 1970s. Europe is seen through a narrow lens, with its vital role in sustaining 60 years of peace, democracy and stability in a reunited Europe completely overlooked. The EU’s role in today’s world is absent. Our partnership with Africa, through the ACP/EU Cotonou Convention, is not even mentioned.
Now that the United Kingdom (UK) has decided to leave the EU, it may be interesting for Ghanaians to get to know the European Union from a wider geographical and historical perspective in order to appreciate the role it plays —and will certainly continue to play — in partnership with Ghana, West Africa, and the African Union, and in facing the new challenges of today's globalised world.
The University of Ghana has recognised this need to know more about Europe in its recent decision to set up a Centre for European Studies. I welcome this new initiative.
Double anniversary
Last month was not only the 60th anniversary of Ghana's independence from Britain; it was also the 60th anniversary of the birth of the European Union. Since 1957 the citizens of our member states have enjoyed six decades of unprecedented peace, prosperity and security. The contrast with the first half of the 20th century could not be greater. Two catastrophic world wars left millions dead and a continent devastated, divided and prostrate. For countries that had been at war for centuries, European integration has been the most successful peace project in our history. And we will continue to work for peace and stability in partner countries all over the world.
The European Union today is a major economic force in the world and will remain so. The EU — without the UK — will contain 445 million consumers and will be in absolute GDP terms the second largest world economy, just after the USA. Even without the UK, EU27 imports US$6.7 trillion in goods and services. The next largest is the US, with imports of US$2.8 trillion. This makes the EU the largest export market in the world for a large number of countries, including Ghana, even after Brexit.
The good news is that the recently ratified interim Economic Partnership Agreement applies to all 28 countries of the EU, including the UK. This guarantees duty free market access for all Ghana's exports — agricultural or manufactured, without time limit. This is a positive signal to investors looking to create jobs and add value in Ghana in the future.
EU investments and assistance
Today the EU is Ghana's top investor, and will remain so after the UK leaves. We will also remain the largest destination and the greatest source of FDI flows in the world. FDI inflows into the EU, excluding the UK, amounted to US$456 billion in 2015, compared to US$353 billion into the US. FDI outflows from the EU, excluding the UK, were US$585 billion in 2015, compared to US$322 billion from the US.
Also in the area of development assistance, the EU – with its member states committed to a joint approach - is Ghana's number one development partner and will still remain the world's leading donor. EU collective (EU institutions and MS) ODA in 2014 increased to US$89 billion, far ahead of the second largest donor (US$31 billion).
At the regional level, the EU is the strongest supporter of regional integration in West Africa, and is providing vital assistance for peace and security throughout the region, through EU-led police and military operations in Niger and Mali and in support of ECOWAS and AU security initiatives. Many Ghanaian servicemen and women have taken part in these joint operations. Ghana benefits greatly from the peace and stability these initiatives bring to the region, as it does from our joint action to combat maritime insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea.
Global affairs
As the EU and the UK will continue to share many core values and interests, close cooperation between us in international affairs is likely to continue, as it does with our other close strategic partners. And I'm sure we will work together well in Ghana in future as we do today.
We have heard from partners around the globe that they continue to need a strong and united Europe and that this is essential for a stable and prosperous global order and strong multilateral institutions.
The EU will remain a core player in world affairs. Drawing on the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU Global Strategy launched in June 2016 presents an ambitious vision for the EU's foreign and security policy to tackle the many international challenges we face — from migration and terrorism to a global economic slowdown.
In our increasingly interconnected world, many of these international challenges can only be dealt with effectively if we join forces with other countries to tackle them together. For this reason, the EU will continue to work with its existing partners, as intensely as before, to arrive at the solutions we all need in areas as diverse as climate change, security, migration and development.
Earlier this week I was invited to speak at an event at the Law Courts (sponsored by the EU) to train Ghana's judges in how to combat cybercrime. Here is a new challenge — one that neither the founding fathers of independent Ghana nor our European Union founding fathers could possibly have imagined. European countries have been working together to combat cybercrime and we want to share this knowledge with our partners. We all stand to gain from this. It's just one example of cooperation between the EU and Ghana that is relevant today. There are many others — our support for job creation, for agriculture, for social security, for decentralisation, the fight against corruption, technical and vocational training, forest governance and sustainable fisheries. The list is long. The EU of 27 will not be quite the same as the EU of 28, but we will continue to play a vital role in support of peace, stability and democracy in the world, and Ghana will be able to count on our continued partnership.
The writer is the European Union Ambassador to Ghana
