The Role of the European Union in Promoting Regional Integration in Africa: A Case study of CEMAC

ABSTRACT: With the creation of the African Union (AU) in the year 2000, came into existence the New Economic Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and Regional Economic Communities (RECs). One of such RECs is the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and six major members of the ECCAS have formed the Economic Community of the Central African States (CEMAC). The AU has stressed several times that regional integration is a prerequisite for the attainment of a ‘United States of Africa’ and the means for a better development on the continent. The European Union (EU) remains the highest contributor to development on the continent today. The EU has done so through forging economic partnerships with each of the RECs (including CEMAC) as well as with each of the member states on the continent. In this connection, in assessing the EU’s contribution towards regional integration in Africa, it shall go a long way towards assessing the EU’s role “as the number one provider of financial aid on the globe”. This has been done through documents analysis, theoretical approaches, contextual and differential analysis. Furthermore, this study shall look as well into how important a monetary union is to the overall development of any region. The EU and CEMAC have this particular characteristic of a monetary union. It therefore concludes with the assertion that “though the EU is a major actor on the African continent, it still needs to foster its presence in the Central African region in particular as well as on the continent as a whole and that a monetary union is a prerequisite for the absolute attainment of regional integration in Africa”. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………