Euro-African Trade and Investment Relations and the Polycrisis

Trade and investment contribute substantially to the economic development of states by creating jobs and increasing the financial means of states to promote the welfare of the population though establishing health care systems, education facilities, or infrastructure - thus preventing health crises, poverty or food crises. While there are numerous Euro-African trade and investment agreements to promote economic development in Africa (and the EU), these agreements may also adversely affect the welfare of societies and states.

Increased imports may endanger national industries and cause job-losses, which may subsequently diminish state funds for health care, education, and infrastructure, and as a final consequence lead to poverty and migration. Foreign investors often put pressure on governments to lower economic and social standards, employ workers (including children) at conditions not meeting basic labor standards or ignore the impact of their activities on the environment. These adverse effects of trade and investment agreements may make it more difficult for African states to find solutions to address crises or the polycrisis.

Within this BIP, students will analyze how the legal framework governing trade and investment relations between the EU and Africa addresses economic development and its impacts on non-economic concerns and gain hands-on experience about negotiating agreements to tackle the polycrisis in the framework of EU-African Trade and Investment Agreements.

The programme, taking place in the summer term 2027, will be divided as follows:

• Seven virtual lessons covering issues like fundamental issues of trade and investment policy (evolution, EU and international legal framework, content, institutional setting, monitoring and dispute settlement mechanisms) and negotiation strategy. Already at the first session, students will introduced to the negotiation scenario and be assigned their roles in the negotiations. The simulation will focus on negotiating the sustainability chapter of a fictitious Euro-African trade and investment agreement.
• After two rounds of hybrid model negotiations, the students will travel to Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, for the physical part (between 10 and 14 May 2027). The component will be divided into ongoing negotiation rounds and visits to Brussels-based trade institutions from the EU and the African Union.

• Trade and investment and the polycrisis
• The legal framework governing international trade and investment
• EU external trade and investment policy
• Evolution of the EU trade and investment agreements over time
• Negotiation strategy
• Modelling negotiations on polycrisis related issues in an EU-African trade and investment agreement

Based on the theoretical knowledge on the functioning of Euro-African Trade and Investment Agreements and their linkages to singular crises and/ or the polycrisis, the students will:

• learn about the technicalities of trade negotiations (how to draft a negotiation position; how to draft pertinent elements of an agreement; negotiation strategy) in three successive sessions;
• understand pertinent aspects of a specific African country (e.g. economic development, poverty, environmental situation etc.), its economic relations with the EU, and the consequences of EU trade and investment on the country’s development;
• get in touch with African and EU international trade practitioners in the “Trade Policy in Practice” sections of the physical part.

The physical mobility part will run from 10 to 14 May 2026 in Brussels, Belgium. The schedule is:

10 May 2027:

• forenoon: Introduction to negotiations
• afternoon: Time to prepare for negotiations

11 May 2027:

• forenoon: First physical negotiation round
• afternoon: Workshop: Aspects of singular crises/ the polycrisis to be considered in EATIAs: climate, environmental degradation, women, indigenous peoples

12 May 2027:

• forenoon: Second physical negotiation round
• afternoon: “Trade negotiations in practice_1” - Commission of the European Union, DG Trade/ Legal Service

13 May 2027:

• forenoon: Third physical negotiation round
• afternoon: “Trade negotiations in practice_2” - AU Representation in Brussels

14 May 2025:

• forenoon: First physical negotiation round
• afternoon: Debrief on negotiations

The virtual component will take place between 4 March - 29 April 2027. Divided into eight sessions, the virtual section provides the theoretical knowledge and skills necessary to negotiate an Euro-African trade and investment agreement and will prepare the model negotiations on polycrisis-relevant sections of a Euro-African trade and investment agreement.

Students will be required to actively participate in the virtual sessions and prepare for their negotiation role that will be assigned to them in the first virtual meeting.

Grading will be based on: 

• the quality of written homeworks;
• oral presentations in class and class participation;
• participation in, and oral and written contributions to the negotiations.

Motivation Letter

CV

Other

Applications will be evaluated based on:

• interest in the course subject as documented in the motivation letter;
• relevant preliminary studies;
• confident use of written and spoken English. 

Ruth Aura, Egerton University - international law, legal gender studies; 

Chloé Briere, ULB, Professor of European Law - international trade relations; 

Kanifa Kamatara, MAK, agricultural scientist - livestock breeding, utilization of indigenous cattle; 

Dzenata Karabegovic, PLUS, polsci - political sociology, migration, democratization, human rights; 

Laura Puccio, EUCOMM Legal Service, lawyer - international trade law and European law, interdisciplinary research; 

Roman Puff, PLUS, historian - history of European integration, interdisciplinarity; 

Adrian Stoicescu, Associate Professor, University of Bucharest - anthropology of conflict, interdisciplinary approach;

Emilio Tostao, Mondlane, economist - sustainability, climate change, food security;

Gudrun Zagel, PLUS, lawyer - international economic law, investment protection; 

Andreas Ziegler, University Lausanne, lawyer - international (economic) law

Blended Intensive Programme

This CIVIS course is a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP): a new format of Erasmus+ mobility which combines online teaching with a short trip to another campus to learn alongside students and professors across Europe.

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