| Chapter 1: | Introduction: Transition, Continuity, and Change |
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Indeed, the formation of the AU was intended to spur the regional political and economic agenda as partly conceived in the treaty of the AEC. The two main objectives of the AU are (a) to accelerate the implementation process of the Abuja Treaty through speeding up the establishment of the continental institutions of the AEC, like the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), and the African Central Bank (ACB), and (b) to strengthen the regional economic communities (African Union, 2006). As such, there is symbiotic relationship in the dynamics of economic and political integration in Africa.
Images of the Future
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the African Union had a Brainstorming Session in May 2007 in Durban, South Africa, in which they reviewed the state of the African Union—its progress, setbacks, and challenges, as well as the need to fast-track Africa’s integration efforts based on the provisions of the AEC—and the Sirte Declaration of September 1999. On the deficit of the AU, in terms of its institutional framework and mandate in achieving continental integration, the background paper to the meeting noted the following:
Other institutional constraints to the effective functioning of the AU, which have inhibited its performance, were highlighted in the report of the chairperson of the African Union on strengthening the African Union Commission. According to the report, “[P]resently, the Commission is not able to optimally perform its functions due to a number of factors including inadequacy of financial resources, limited and ambiguous mandates and incongruity of portfolio content and inadequate human resources” (African Union, 2007a, p. 1).