Between the 1930s and Lomé 1 - the Lomé Agreements of 1975 - European elites, as well as some African elites, thought about Eurafrican relations using the construct of 'Eurafrica'. This concept belonged to the mental landscape of European elites during the period of colonization. Did it then become a part of the thinking about the future of Europe? Did it describe a genuine project for partnership in development? Was it, at the time of the signature of the Yaoundé (1963) and then the Lomé 1 Agreements, still there in the mind of European negotiators even though independence was by then under way? How did the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation, the Council of Europe and the Economic European Community view 'Eurafrica'? This is the starting point for a debate about Eurafrica and on the involvement of the Overseas Territories in the European Communities.
I- 'Eurafrica' of the Crisis and War years
The conference will deal with the history of the concept of 'Eurafrica' from the 1930s. It is very clear that this concept was European in origin, and that it often meant that European countries wanted their colonies in Africa to be included in some way in the developing politics and economics of Europe. Africa was considered both as a source of raw materials for the industrialization of Europe, and also as Europe's strategic back-yard. Count Coudenhove-Kalergi's pan Europa project is evidence of this. It was also an element of Germany's criticisms of the Versailles Treaty .
II- 'Eurafrica' to help Western Europe
After the Second World War, West Europeans integrated Africa into their vast projects for the reconstruction and recovery of Europe under American leadership. 'Eurafrica' became a vision for the economic and social development of vast uncultivated territories for the benefit of the Free world. 'Eurafrica' also became an essential geostrategic space for the defence of the Free World in the Cold War.
'Eurafrica' was important for the old colonial powers - France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain – in particular. While the struggle for independence was dominant in Asia, the 'Eurafrica' project allowed those European states responsible for African territories to think about common responsibilities for Africa's economic and human development. Projects for inclusion of Africa in the European and global economic space thus ended one phase of Europe's colonial history, although this was at the expense of negotiated and non-violent independence for many African states.
III-Africa and a Uniting Europe in the 1950s and 1960s
The question of an institutional relation between a united Europe and Africa was put to the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe during the negotiation of the European Coal and Steel Community treaty, and again at the time of the Treaties of Rome.
It is crucial to understand how the countries of the future European Economic Community envisaged this relationship developing. Was it a genuine shift in attitudes? Were the European powers simply acting in defence of their power interests? Did the 1950s set the framework for and beyond the Yaoundé Agreement?
What can we also learn from the speeches and actions of the future leaders of independent Black Africa with regard to a unifying Europe? What new documentary evidence is there relating to the negotiation of the agreements of Yaoundé and Lomé 1
Conclusions
This conference will enable participants to investigate the ideological, economic and strategic roots of 'Eurafrica' from European and African perspectives. It will also throw light on the subsequent shaping of relations between African countries and the developing European Communities.
Organizers:
Pr. Marie-Thérèse BITSCH, Groupe de recherche interdisciplinaire sur les constructions européennes (GRICE) of the University of Strasbourg 3, 10 street Schiller, F-67081 Strasbourg
Pr. Gérard BOSSUAT ( Cergy-Pontoise), University of Cergy-Pontoise , UFR de Lettres et Sciences humaines, Les Chênes 2, 33 bd du Port, F-95011 Cergy-Pontoise cedex.
Date: 8-10 April 2004
Duration: Thursday afternoon 8 April, all day Friday, 9 April, all day Saturday, 10 April
Place: Paris
Working languages: French and English
Speakers: historians
Public: researchers and interested persons
communications are asked the historians of the Group of Liaison who will echo in their network, the members of the network " Spaces and time of the European construction ", the members of UMR IRICE ( Paris-1), ]
The final paper will have the following shape: 35000 signs / 6-8,000 words, including footnotes for publication by 30 May, 2004
Publication: Bruylant (Brussels) or Nomos Verlag ( Baden-Baden) in 2005
Contact:
Pr. Gérard BOSSUAT
gerard.bossuat@lsh.u-cergy.fr, gbossuat@aol.com
Pr. Marie-Thérèse BITSCH
marie-therese.bitsch@urs.u-strasbg.fr,
mt.bitsch@wanadoo.fr
