Eurafrica and its Business: the European Development Fund Between the Member States, the European Commission and European Firms

Véronique DIMIER

doi:10.5771/0947-9511-2017-2-187

Contents
- Chapter Expand | CollapseAuthorsPage
- 177–180 Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis 177–180
- 181–186 Introduction – European funding: on the way to a new research agenda for European Integration History? Alice CUNHA Alice CUNHA 181–186
- 187–210 Eurafrica and its Business: the European Development Fund Between the Member States, the European Commission and European Firms Véronique DIMIER Véronique DIMIER 187–210
- 211–226 Indonesian Decolonisation and the Dutch Attitude Towards the Establishment of the EEC’s Association Policy, 1945-1963 Robin DE BRUIN Robin DE BRUIN 211–226
- 227–244 The ERDF and the Mezzogiorno: The Case of Apulia (1972-1992) Antonio BONATESTA Antonio BONATESTA 227–244
- 245–262 The Common Agricultural Policy Crisis of the 1970s/1980s: Accommodating the Logics of Appropriateness and Consequences Marko Lovec Marko Lovec 245–262
- 263–280 Inner Tensions vs. Outer Change: Political Agency Impact on Cohesion Funds Implementation in Spain in the Context of the Maastricht Treaty Cristina BLANCO SÍO-LÓPEZ Cristina BLANCO SÍO-LÓPEZ 263–280
- 281–294 Pre-Accession Programmes as Example of EU Influence to Enlargement and New Member States Development: Case Study Slovakia Lucia MOKRÁ Lucia MOKRÁ 281–294
- 295–306 Cultural Opportunities and Shortcomings in the Management of EU-funded Projects in Romania Nicolae Paun, Adrian Corpădean Nicolae Paun, Adrian Corpădean 295–306
- 307–322 Book reviews – Comptes rendus – Buchbesprechungen 307–322
- 323–328 PHD Theses – Thèses de doctorat – Doktorarbeiten 323–328
- 329–332 Information – Informations – Informationen 329–332
- 333–342 Abstracts – Résumés – Zusammenfassungen 333–342
- 343–344 Contributors – Auteurs – Autoren 343–344
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JEIH Journal of European Integration History , page 187 - 210

Eurafrica and its Business: the European Development Fund Between the Member States, the European Commission and European Firms

Autoren

Véronique DIMIER

DOI
- doi.org/10.5771/0947-9511-2017-2-187
- ISSN: 0947-9511
- ISSN online: 2942-321X
Abstract

This article deals with the role of the European Commission in the management of the European Development Fund, the main financial instrument of the Yaoundé and Lomé Conventions with the African, Caribbean and Pacific States. It also deals with the strategies of the Member States and their firms to get EDF contracts. It argues that the European Commission put in place a system of EDF management well adapted to dealing with the neo-patrimonial administrations of most African countries. In this sense, the authority and legitimacy of the European Commission, in administering the fund, was based less on expertise than on clientelistic practices, featuring arbitrariness in the decision making, permanent exception to rules, opacity and the primacy of personal relationships with the Commission constituency, in this case, the African elite. The article also demonstrates that those clientelistic practices were largely fuelled by the Member States themselves, in their attempts to secure funding for ‘their’ firms and their ‘political’ clients in Africa. Hence, each Member State tried to derive as much benefit as possible from the fund, either by trying to change the rule of competition in its own favour or by playing the clientelistic card to its own advantage. This process resulted in an increasing of the autonomy and power of the Commission in running the EDF. It also led to many contradictions in the management of the EDF.
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