Why are EU-Africa relations still performative?

European policymakers once hailed Africa as a “sister continent”. Fast forward to 2025 and for most African states, the EU appears to be — at best — a distant relative.

There are some high-profile visits, noble intentions, and lofty declarations. But as the song goes, where is the love?

Or, as in the case of the recent visit to South Africa by Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, respectively presidents of the EU Commission and Council, where is the long-elusive EU strategy for Africa?

Going to Pretoria at a time of tectonic global shifts unleashed by US president Donald Trump was geopolitical genius. South Africa’s international profile is rising as it prepares to host the G20 summit in November, becoming the first African country to do so.

And its historic legal case at the International Court of Justice, alleging Israeli genocide in Gaza, as well as membership of the Hague Nine, which is committed to supporting the International Criminal Court’s rulings, have won the country international respect. 

Not surprisingly, Pretoria is in the bad books of the current US administration which has criticised South Africa’s land policy and expelled the country’s ambassador while — not coincidentally — relations with the EU are on the mend.

Costa and Von der Leyen waxed lyrical in Pretoria about “shared values” and promised more aid, trade and investments to a “strategic ally.”