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DPAP: Delegation for relations with the Pan-African Parliament

The European Parliament's Delegation for relations with the Pan-African Parliament (DPAP) fosters links with elected representatives from across Africa. The Delegation's focus, the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), is the legislative arm of the African Union (AU), an inter-governmental organisation regrouping 55 African countries and working to re-enforce their solidarity. The AU was founded in 2001, and its parliament held its first session in 2004.

Because each country in the African Union that has signed the PAP Protocol sends five representatives to the Pan-African Parliament, the European Parliament's delegation works with a large and varied group of counterparts.

The Delegation has attended sessions of the Pan-African Parliament and held inter-parliamentary meetings with its legislators, most often in Midrand, South Africa, the current seat of the Parliament.

The Delegation also meets regularly on its own in Brussels or Strasbourg to discuss issues related to Africa and EU-Africa relations.

Members and Chair


The Delegation is composed of 12 full members, including the Chair, backed up by a set of substitute members.
For reference, on 1 January 2023 the delegation had at that moment 10 full members and 11 substitute members.

While the members are nominated by the Parliament's political groups, the Chair and vice-chairs are elected during the Constituent meeting by the other members of the Delegation. The political balance of the Delegation mirrors that of the European Parliament as a whole.

Pre-summit gatherings

One of the major joint accomplishments of the Delegation and the Pan-African Parliament has been their "pre-summit" meetings, organised on the eve of the last four Africa-EU summits. A joint declaration from parliamentarians to the summit identifies the most significant issues and the parliaments' position.

These meetings offer the two delegations the opportunity to discuss upcoming issues and to insist - with one voice - on the importance of involving parliaments in the work of the summits, which otherwise involve only heads of state. The summits have produced important decisions about the orientation of EU-Africa relations.

A landmark outcome of the second summit, held in Lisbon in 2007, was the "Joint EU-Africa Strategy for Africa" (JAES), which called " for these two neighbours, with their rich and complex history, to forge a new and stronger partnership that builds on their new identities and renewed institutions, capitalises on the lessons of the past and provides a solid framework for long-term, systematic and well integrated cooperation."

Three 3-year plans for implementing the Strategy have been adopted at the summits - the first (for 2008-2010) in Lisbon in 2007, the second (covering 2011-2013) at the 2010 summit in Tripoli, and a third "roadmap" (for 2013-2017) at the 2014 summit in Brussels. After the November 2017 AU-EU Summit in Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire), the final declaration did not yet result in an agreed action plan.

The DPAP at home


The Joint EU-Africa Strategy for Africa and its implementation plans have proved an important topic of discussion at the Delegation's regular meetings in Brussels and Strasbourg. Participants in these meetings also confer on other issues of common concern, such as the post-Cotonou framework, migration and security, as well as the recurrent themes of human development, inclusive growth and Sustainable Development Goals.

To expand their deliberations, members of the Delegation regularly invite senior officials from the European Commission and European External Action Service, African and African Union diplomats, non-governmental organisations, and researchers from academia and think tanks.