Three Members of the Pan-African Parliament share their thoughts on the key role of democracy

Three Members of the Pan-African Parliament share their thoughts on the key role of democracy

In celebration of the International Day of Democracy, three distinguished Members of the Pan-African Parliament - the Hon. Mariam DAO GABALA (Cote d'Ivoire), Margaret JEPKOECH KAMAR (Kenya) and Yosri BAOUAB (Tunisia) - shared their thoughts with the European Parliament (EP) on the key role of democracy for our societies.

The EU attaches great importance to the longstanding alliance and partnership between the AU and the EU - with 2025 marking the 25^th anniversary of this partnership and with the AU-EU Summit taking place in November 2025 - and this is why the European Parliament has a presence in Addis Ababa - under the responsibility and guidance of the European Parliament Directorate General for Parliamentary Democracy Partnerships and as part of the EU Delegation to the African Union - in order to: (i) provide Members of the EP with deeper insight about political and policy developments related to the African Union and the PAP, (ii) provide Members of the PAP with information about political and policy developments related to the EU and the EP; (iii) facilitate political and policy exchanges between EP and PAP Members and (iv) to complement the external action of the EU with parliamentary diplomacy.

The EP has a standing body - the Inter-Parliamentary Delegation for relations with the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) - dedicated to furthering dialogue and cooperation between the EP and the PAP on the strong alliance between the African Union and the European Union. The PAP is also a key partner of the EP for cooperation on parliamentary capacity building and parliamentary best practices. The EP presence in Addis Ababa pursue synergies also to this effect in cooperation with the rele EP secretariats. Cooperation between the EP, the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the European Commission (EC) is truly excellent with regular exchanges, official visits by Members of European Parliament and very close cooperation and mutually reinforcing action between EP, EEAS and EC.

European Parliament Staff in Addis Ababa follows closely the statutory meetings of the PAP and reports back to EP, EEAS and EC. When the PAP Bureau (President and four Vice-Presidents) visits the African Union institutions in Addis Ababa, they now regularly include consultations with the European Parliament and the EU Delegation to the African Union and they have expressed strong interest in reaching out to the EU Member State Missions to the AU too on the occasion of future visits.