European Union

The EU is currently cooperating with Eritrea on projects, which are financed from the 9th and the 10th EDF. From the 10th EDF, an indicative amount of  € 122 million has been allocated to Eritrea for the period 2009-2013. By signing – belatedly in November 2009 a Country Strategy Paper (CSP), the EU and the Government of the State of Eritrea agreed on the areas, where the funds will be used for financing projects. The National Indicative Programme, which defines specific budgets for the various sectors, foresees € 70 million for ‘Food Security’, which is defined as ‘Focal Sector’ of the Country Strategy. In addition € 10 million are foreseen for ‘Governance’ and € 5 million for ‘Protection of national heritage’, which are the non-focal priority sectors in the CSP.

The cooperation takes place under the framework of the Cotonou Agreement, which is based on the understanding that for cooperation programmes need a conductive policy environment, in order to be effective. Therefore, a continued political dialogue between the European Union, represented by the EU Delegation and the Embassies of the European Member States is part of the ongoing cooperation.

As documented in the EU Consensus on Development, the EU cooperation is also based on the understanding that economic cooperation needs being supported by coherent policies in other areas. The regulation of trade and migration, the promotion of peace and stability, the integration into regional organisations, the approaches to the issues of environmental protection – all of those areas need to be addressed by coherent and effective policies, if development cooperation is to be successful. 

The EU cooperation with Eritrea therefore addresses a variety of policy areas while maintaining a focus on the particular circumstances and challenges in the Horn of Africa Region.