The hour of Africa, the hour of Europe - Could it be their finest hours as both continents rapidly review their options?

I have returned from another stimulating but also serious IGW in Marrakech. As geopolitical fault lines deepen and global systems stretch under pressure, Africa and Europe find themselves standing at a historic crossroads. This is not only Africa’s hour — it is also Europe’s. And it is time both continents act like it. 

The world is shifting. From the war in Ukraine to Red Sea disruptions and mounting climate risks, shocks once considered regional now have global reverberations. At the same time, traditional channels of support — aid, concessional finance, and multilateral development tools — are losing traction. Global and European development aid to Africa is stagnating in real terms, while private investment flows remain a fraction of their potential, hindered by perceived risk and weak enabling environments as well as the redirection of flows to defence, for instance. 

Meanwhile, the rhetoric has evolved. "Trade not aid" and "investor not donor" have again become familiar slogans, including at the IGW in Marrakech. They sound progressive, even bold — yet, for me, they mask a troubling lack of substance. Trade requires infrastructure, financing, and market access. Investment demands stable rules, governance, and patient capital. Both require will and action on both sides. Without rethinking the institutions and instruments that connect Europe and Africa, these slogans will remain empty promises. 

This is not just a moral issue. It is one of strategic survival — for both continents. 

Shared interests, shared future 

Europe cannot afford to see Africa merely as a development project or as a theatre of competition for critical resources between China, the United States and others. What happens in Africa will define Europe’s future — in energy security, migration, food systems, and demographic balance. The Mediterranean, unfortunately still treated by some as a dividing line, is a shared space — one that connects markets, peoples, cultures, and futures. 

Africa’s growth potential is real. It holds the world’s youngest population, vast renewable energy capacity, and emerging innovation ecosystems. But capitalising on that promise requires long-term, strategic engagement — not episodic aid or short-term investment speculation. 

Europe must adopt a new playbook — and lead the world in that direction. 

This means scaling blended finance and guarantee mechanisms to de-risk private investment for real, not only in reports. It means retooling instruments and institutions to act faster and more flexibly. It means co-investing in African infrastructure — not only hard assets like roads and ports, but the digital and regulatory infrastructure that enables scalable businesses. 

It also means betting seriously on people. Africa’s youth have long been heralded as the continent’s greatest asset — a demographic dividend in waiting. But in the age of AI and automation, this assumption could rapidly erode. The global economy is shedding low-skill, labour-intensive jobs faster than it is creating them. If Africa’s growing population is not equipped for the industries of the future, the result will be frustration, not prosperity. 

That’s why Europe must treat human capital as strategic capital. Investing in African education systems, vocational training, higher education partnerships, and digital literacy is no longer a soft policy area — it is a hard economic and geopolitical necessity. A joint effort! 

A reset, not a rebrand 

To rise to this moment, Europe and Africa must move beyond donor-recipient dynamics and engage as co-strategists in a shared project. The institutions that manage this relationship — from development banks to trade platforms — must be recalibrated for long-termism, risk-sharing, and local ownership. This requires hard decisions, including reforming outdated financial metrics, rebalancing power in multilateral governance, and holding both African and European partners accountable to results. 

In an era of fragmentation, Europe and Africa must chart a third way — one that reflects their unique interdependence and capacity to co-create solutions. There is no strategic autonomy for Europe without a thriving, resilient Africa, and Africa’s sustainable rise cannot be built on dependency or drift. 

The window for credible action is closing. The next five years will determine whether this is truly a turning point or just another missed opportunity. 

This is the hour of Africa. But it is also the hour of Europe — to choose relevance, to act boldly, and to build the foundations of a genuine partnership for this century.