Africa mustn’t let itself be blinded by Chinese capital, Members of the European Parliament warn. ‘Africa gives too much away to the Chinese for too little money.’ But what is the way to go then? Wrestling with postcolonial guilt Europeans are looking for the answer during an EU-Africa conference in Brussels.

“Europe still sees Africa as a deplorable continent where we can obtain the raw materials for our industry,” says Dutch Member of Parliament for the Green Party Judith Sargentini. “We still treat Africa like a child.”

How does Europe relate to Africa? This week, during a two day EU-Africa conference in Brussels, it became clear that this is a painful question. The announcement alone of the encounter between the African Union and the European Commission testifies to a great sense of unease. It refers extensively to the EU-Africa summit of 2007 in Lissabon, where agreements on ‘equal partnership’ were made.

Painful reminder
But not a word about the most recent summit. That one took place in November 2010 in Tripoli, under the watchful eye of the host Gaddafi. Barely six months later and the Libyan leader is persona non grata.

Europarliamentarian Sargentini laughs wrily: “It says a lot about Europe’s misjudgement of African issues. But the African Union deserves just as much blame. African leaders didn’t dare criticise Gaddafi all this time.”

Hiding behind policy
There are still great misunderstandings between Africa and Europe, Etiene Tshisekedi, grand old man of Congolese politics, finds. Tshisekedi (78) is in Brussels looking for backing for his candidacy in the Congolese presidential elections at the end of this year. At the same time, he is fiercely critical of Europe. “You are still acting in a dominant way. Europe has to get used to us being equal partners.”

Though Brussels increasingly realises this too, the European ambitions in Africa still hide behind policy papers. Europa wants to be rid of the traditional giver-receiver relationship with Africa, but it wrestles with a postcolonial guilt that comes with moral rather than commercial obligations.

Chinese solution
What is the way to go? Where can Europe find the reset button for Africa? Since a few years, the Chinese have the answer: they build roads, ports and football stadiums in Africa, and in return they take the continent’s oil and minerals home.

That ‘pragmatic’, commercial Chinese model has shaken the traditional European way of thinking about Africa, diplomats from Brussels admit. But admitting out loud that Europe should take their lead is not done.

“China does business with regimes that violate human rights,” says the liberal Dutch Europarliamentarian Hans van Baalen. “And their roads aren’t constructed by Africans but by the Chinese themselves. Africa doesn’t gain anything by it. It’s one way traffic.”

Unreasonable demands
Africa mustn’t let itself be blinded by Chinese capital, Europarliamentarian Sargentini agrees. “I have seen the stadiums the Chinese have built in Angola with my own eyes. In return, the Chinese demand mining concessions of unreasonable duration.”

According to her, African leaders go for ‘the quick buck’. “For far too little money they give away far too much to the Chinese. Europe must counter that with the promise of long term cooperation and fair trade. Then, I am certain, all Africans will want to do business with us.”