The influence of the European Union (EU) on the African continent, particularly in North Africa, is significantly weakening in favor of Russia, Turkey and a number of other countries, said the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell.

‘We need to be concerned about what is happening in Africa. When I arrived in Brussels, the French and Italians were in Libya. They didn’t always get along with each other, but they were there. Today there are no more Europeans in Libya – only Turks and Russians,’ Mr Borrell was quoted as saying by EUobserver. Mr Borrell criticized the decline of EU influence in Africa and said that on the African coast of the Mediterranean Sea there is no longer the “order” that he says Europeans tried to establish.

The portal notes that Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Russia have ‘intensified their work’ economically and politically with the countries of North Africa and other states on the continent. The EU is trying to counter their influence. Thus, recalls EUobserver,
the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, had already proposed the creation of a post of European Commissioner for the Mediterranean, thus underlining the priority of developing the EU’s relations with the countries of North Africa.

Source: Burkina Information Agency