Map of Europe
Political Map of Europe showing the European countries. Color-coded map of Europe with European Union member countries, non-member countries, and EU candidates, with international borders, the national capitals, and major cities. The eurozone comprises 27 countries, with 19 using the euro as their official currency.
It is December 2001, and one very excited MBA candidate had just completed the core elements of his program at the Graduate School of Business in Cape Town. He had just received a scholarship for an international exchange at one of Germany’s premier business schools, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, Koblenz, in a small town called Vallender. The assignment would be for six months including taking some courses in finance, learning basic German, and also participating in an international finance conference hosted by WHU, with participants from many global Universities. This story is significant for two reasons as explained below.
Firstly, the candidate who was 28 years old at the time was about to embark on his first journey abroad on a long haul flight and would experience his first northern hemisphere winter. Secondly, the timing of the adventure was coincidentally during the inception of the European Union including the actual switching over from the individual country currencies to the Euro. For Germany this meant that all goods at stores or points of sale were each marked in Deutschmarks and Euro, to enable citizens to easily adjust to the new currency.
The African candidates eyes were opened in more ways than one, especially a rude awakening about how cold a European winter can be, having left a very pleasantly warm 28 degrees Celsius in Johannesburg to arrive to minus 14 degrees Celsius in Paris (which was the first stop). The ease of movement of citizens on public transport within and between cities, across national boundaries, illustrated an already integrated and functional land and air based European transportation system. This was highlighted by an experience traveling on Frances TGV (high speed) trains which seamlessly link the major European cities.
Why is this back story even relevant for Africa 2063? What we seek to illustrate in this segment is how a region with a not so pleasant history going back centuries with a number of major national and regional conflicts, including Civil and World Wars, cultural differences, differing religions and national languages, not to mention varying levels of development and economic output. The EU reached the realization that a united Europe was the best way forward to maintain the global competitiveness of the region, while also ensuring the prosperity of its citizens.
This is a clear example for Africa that ‘if there is a will, there is a way’. It’s been 20 years since Europe fully integrated their economies. Overall, there are more positives than negatives for European citizens from uniting, despite some of the challenges along the way. The issues were mainly brought about the differences in cultures between the northern and southern states of the Union and the varying economies and traditional economic policies which at a point in time lead to austerity measures being imposed on certain nations like Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain (initially referred to as the PIGS), in return for financial support by the EU.
In the case of Greece, which for all intents and purposes was bankrupt and not meeting the standards set to be included in the EU, they required bailouts from the EU central bank on more than one occasion . The UK never adopted the Euro, retaining the Pound Sterling as their currency, and always had one foot in the union and one outside, leading to the recent decision to exit the union (BREXIT). Time will tell if this is a wise move for the UK, but the odds are, they may need to return to the union in decades to come, when they realize they have made an awful mistake.
According to the European Union’s official website, the union’s purpose is to promote peace, establish a unified economic and monetary system, promote inclusion and combat discrimination, break down barriers to trade and borders, encourage technological and scientific developments, champion environmental protection, …23 Aug 2018
Africa has a lot to learn from the European experiment to unite given the attributes brought about by its colonial past. The differences accentuated by the borders imposed by former colonizers, varying national systems and languages adopted from former colonizers, different ethnicities and local languages, can and must be overcome to drive towards Africa’s integration and unity. There is a strong case for Africa to adopt most of the policies aimed at promoting unity as expounded on in the previous paragraph on the EU purpose.
In the next part of Africa 2063 we conclude our journey around the world with a look at one of the greatest unions in the world, the United States of America, before focusing on the specific areas that Africa can drive towards unity drawing on the lessons from China, EU and US.