In a letter circulated to governments ahead of an EU leaders' summit on 25 June European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pointed to data from the EU's statistics agency Eurostat showing that departures from Libya accounted for 93% of illegal border crossings in the first six months of 2025 with an increase of 7% on the Central Mediterranean route and a 173% increase of arrivals to Greece from eastern Libya...
To some scepticism Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni used a ‘Mattei Plan' summit co-hosted with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Rome to promise to halve the debts of low-middle income African nations...
Agreements with Egypt Tunisia and Mauritania worth over €8bn were signed in the final year of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's first term offering investment in infrastructure projects mainly energy and budget support for migration control (AC Vol 64 No 15 Saïed wins €1 billion windfall in EU migration deal)...
As the new United States administration targets South Africa on policy and the European Union on tariffs it has triggered an opposite reaction – bringing President Cyril Ramaphosa in Pretoria closer to President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on a host of diplomatic and security issues...
A severe bout of pneumonia put a hold on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's plans to visit Morocco last week but nothing it appears can halt the momentum for more migrant control deals with Morocco and its neighbours...
Reynders had hoped for a second term in Ursula von der Leyen's EU Commission but was replaced as Belgium's nominee by Hadja Lahbib...
The new EU Commission led by German conservative Ursula von der Leyen is likely to offer African states little beyond more investment in green energy and infrastructure and cash for migration control and officials in Brussels have warned of major budget cuts to the EU's network of embassies (AC Vol 65 No 16 Imagination deficit limits continental ties)...
Days later in October European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen a German Christian Democrat announced a one year delay to implement the law to January 2026...
Vol 65 No 23 |
- CLIMATE CHANGE
Outgoing US President Joe Biden re-elected European Union President Ursula von der Leyen India's Narendra Modi and Russia's Vladimir Putin aren't due to attend...
After celebrating Africa as Europe's ‘sister' continent as she campaigned for a second five-year term as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen devoted just a couple of paragraphs on EU-Africa relations in her 32-page manifesto in June...