Nick Westcott, managing director of Africa department of European External Action Service, gave a speech on the 18th October 2011 at EUISS conference on EU-Africa foreign policy after Lisbon.

He outlines a new framework for European relations with Africa following the setting up of the European External Action Service.

The central message of his speech is that “the EU must put the African people at the heart of its policy in Africa”. This principle is set in three ways:

• supporting peace,
• promoting prosperity,
• and working through partnership with African countries and others.

He stresses how the Lisbon Treaty has helped bring a “new coherence, focus and impetus” to European relations with Africa, and how the EEAS acts as the “servant of the member states, not the master”.

Mr Westcott outlines also various ways in which the EU engages with Africa and its people: from humanitarian assistance to trade and investment; from security and stability to development and climate action.

Read his speech.