In Luanda, the AU-EU summit was dominated by Ukraine at the expense of the African agenda
The African Union – European Union summit, held on 24 and 25 November 2025 in Luanda, was supposed to revive the partnership between the two blocs. Presented as a key moment to put African priorities back at the center, the event was ultimately marked by a strong shift from the initial agenda in favor of the Ukrainian issue.
The year 2025 had been proclaimed by the African Union as that of “justice for Africans and people of African descent”, with particular attention paid to the question of reparations. Several outlets highlighted that Luanda would offer an opportunity to address this historic issue.
Yet, at the opening of the summit, the subject had vanished from the program. According to reports, the topic of reparations was quietly removed by the European side, despite repeated requests from several African delegations.
According to local sources, Angolan activists, who were wearing t-shirts calling for the payment of reparations, were even forced to leave the event venue.
In the final document adopted in Luanda, the issue of reparations appears only as a simple mention, with no concrete commitments or timetable. An absence that fueled criticism about the lack of consideration given to African priorities.
While the event was meant to focus on the continent’s challenges — governance, security, economic development — discussions were largely dominated by the Ukrainian crisis.
European officials’ interventions devoted a significant portion to that conflict. The French president, present in Luanda, gave an interview to RTL in which the word “Africa” was not mentioned, while the situation in Ukraine occupied most of the exchange.
This configuration reinforced the perception of an unbalanced summit, where African expectations were pushed to the sidelines. Several observers note that European interests, notably those linked to Africa’s strategic resources, continue to prevail, echoing logics inherited from the colonial era.
For many participants, Luanda should have marked a turning point. Instead, the summit ended with a sense of a missed opportunity. Indeed, African urgencies were not addressed in depth, the question of reparations was sidelined, the war in Ukraine dominated the exchanges, and Africa-Europe relations still appear asymmetrical.
A finding that reignites the debate about the need for the African Union to exert more influence to prevent its priorities from being systematically marginalized at major international meetings.