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African Unionの構成と財政管理とは?

2021年2月7日

今日の注目

f:id:globalissues:20210207053206p:plain

African Union member states

今日は the African Union(AU)の構成と財政管理についてです!

3分で読める本記事の構成は以下のとおりです。

The African Union(AU)とは?

The African Union(AU)は the European Union(EU) と同じように連合組織が名前を変えながら地域のつながりを強めていくなかで2002年に形成され、植民地支配の影響を除いた経済や国家体制の発展を掲げています。

 

The European Union(EU)のような加盟国間でのビザなしの移動などは認められてないのですが、似たような民主的な体制を維持していくための様々な組織が存在していて、その規模はアフリカ大陸全体におよんでいます。

抱える問題は?

しかし、The African Union(AU) がかかえる一つの大きな問題は財源です。財源はおもに組織の運営費、平和維持活動の費用、発展事業費に使われるのですが、加盟国からの徴収と海外からの資金援助でまかなわれています。アメリカ、カナダ、ヨーロッパ諸国や中国などの海外からの資金援助が財源の半分以上をしめていて、さらに情勢の安定しない国々が組織への支払いを滞納していたりして、独自の資金源がないことが長いあいだ問題だったんですね。

解決策

そこで2017年に The European Union(EU) が実践している資金調達方法を取り入れて、アフリカ大陸の外から輸入される製品に関税をかける、というかたちが始まるのですが、制度が全土に行き届いていないのが現状です。

今後もアフリカ全体の資金管理を担う機関や Afro と呼ばれる共通通貨の導入が検討されています。

 

参考

African Union, NTI, International Democracy Watch, Brookings, The conversation, Macalester International

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英語版

The African Union was officially established in 2002 as a successor of the Organization of African Unity from 1963 that was the united institution after the colonial era in Africa. In 1999, the establishment of an African Union was proposed to accelerate the process of integration in Africa and prosper its economy while avoiding the negative impact of the globalization. 

Unlike the European Union, the African Union(AU) does not have freedom of moving without visa among member states, but it consists of all countries in the entire continent. 

Like the European Union, the African Union(AU) has many branches to protect democracy. 

The Assembly is the head of states and the entire union and plays a role to determine the common policies of the union, such as budget, management of policy implementation and appointment of leaders. 

The Executive Council plays a role to lead decision makings. 

Specialized Technical Committees plays a role to prepare future programs in various areas for the Executive Council 

The Permanent Representatives' Committee plays a role to assist the Executive Council, such as setting up meetings.

The Pan African Parliament (PAP) plays a role to implement policies under its own rules of procedure.

The Court of Justice plays a role to ensure compliance with the law

The Authority or the Commission plays a role as an administration of the union. 

The Peace and Security Council (PSC) plays a role to monitor the union and maintain democracy. 

The Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) plays a role to prevent economic, social and cultural conflicts in civil society.

The African Investment Bank plays a role to support the local government for the funding of planned projects. 

 

Budget of the African Union mainly comes from member states(about 40 %) and international partners, like the US, Canada, China and European countries(about 60 %), and used for operation of the union, development programs and peacekeeping. This reliance on foreign aids and the lack of an independent income sources have been concerned for the African Union since it is not sustainable and reduces the potential performanceThe income from member states is also irregular due to the regional instability.

 

This situation led the union to adopt import tax on products from outside continent in 2017, but it has not fully implemented. The more amounts of imports, the easier the operation gets.  

There are plans to create an African Central Bank, the African Monetary Fund and a single currency Afro for the entire continent.