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In the past ten years, the number of forcibly displaced people has nearly doubled. In 2019, the number of peopleforced to flee (inside and beyond the borders) grew to 79.5 million the highest ever recorded. Refugee situationscontinue to increase in scope, scale and complexity, whereas durable solutions provided to refugees are at levels that fall well below needs.

The Three-Year Strategy on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways translates the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) into a global plan for action to build the structures to increase the number of resettlement and complementary pathways places. It also seeks to expand the number of engaged countries and improve the availability and predictability of third country solutions for refugees. The Strategy foresees resettlement of one million refugees and admission of two million through complementary pathways by 2028. More specifically, the Strategy calls for an incremental increase of 10,000 resettlement admissions per year. The global resettlement admissions target was set at 70,000 refugees for 2020 and at 80,000 for 2021. It will be reaching 150,000 refugees by 2028.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a serious impact with border closure and travel restrictions and placed a significant obstacle in securing third country solutions for refugees in 2020. The pandemics toll on European countries has been significant. Despite the major challenges caused by COVID-19, EU Member States remained engaged with UNHCR to find ways to keep resettlement programmes running: scores of refugees with emergency protection needs have been able to depart for resettlement; and innovative modalities have been adopted to maintain resettlement processing. UNHCR welcomes the support and assistance provided by EU Member States and local communities to refugees.

With the resumptions of travel and admissions since June 2020, UNHCR stands ready to support States in their efforts. UNHCR is very pleased to see several arrivals to EU countries, including from the Niger Emergency Transit Mechanisms and calls on countries to assist and expedite departures in order to continue evacuations from Libya.

UNHCR welcomes the Pact on Migration and Asylum and looks forward to working with Member States and the EU. The Pact is a foundation for growing resettlement and complementary pathways in 2021 and beyond in reflection of the goals of the Three-Year Strategy on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways.

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UNHCR Recommendations to the European Union: Resettlement Needs and Key Priorities for 2021, October 2020 - World - ReliefWeb

The Ambassador of the European Union in Ecuador Charles-Michel Geurts says that the consulates of the Schengen Member Countries are working to extend the validity of visas issued to Ecuadorians from two to four years.

In an interview for El Comercio, Ambassador Geurts talked about several issued regarding EU and Ecuador, including the possible abolishment of the visa regime for Ecuadorians, now that Ecuador issues biometric passports to its citizens.

Ecuador is following the necessary steps, including the implementation of the biometric passport that will be a necessary requirement at the time when processing starts, he noted regarding the requirements that Ecuador needs to meet in order for it to achieve a visa liberalization agreement with the EU.

On the other hand, as a transitory measure, work is being done with the consulates of the Member States to extend the duration of the visas (from 2 to 4 years) so that they have multiple entries, he added as per the validity of Schengen Visas issued to Ecuadorian passport holders.

The South American country has recently requested for visa-free regime for its citizens more frequently.

Only last week, Ecuadors Foreign Minister Luis Gallegos Chiriboya held a virtual meeting with the EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs, Ylva Johnson during which meeting was also discussed the issue of visa liberalization for Ecuador.

Minister Luis Gallegos Chiriboya held a virtual meeting with Ylva Johansson, Commissioner for the Interior of the European Union, where he presented Ecuadors request to this bloc for the exemption of the short-term visa in the Schengen area, the MFA said in a tweet in their official Twitter account.

According to the MFA, throughout the meeting, the Minister informed Commissioner Johnson that Ecuador is complying with the necessary requirements to reach an agreement, including the issuance of biometric passports to Ecuadorian citizens, which began on September 14.

Both, the Commissioner and the Minister agreed by the end of the meeting that the EU and Ecuador should work on the advancement of this process, while always taking into account the evolution of the Coronavirus pandemic and the obstacles that come with it.

Ecuador had hoped they could travel visa-free to the Schengen Area by mid-2020, but the country has yet to meet the criteria set by the EU. The Foreign Ministry hopes that the criteria will be met by 2021 so that Ecuadorians can travel visa-free later on the same year.

The visa liberalization may be a bit more complicated to be achieved than what the Ecuadorian authorities describe it to be. Aside from meeting all requirements, the Schengen Members must agree on granting Ecuador with visa-free entry by the end of the process, which may slow things down.

In the case of Kosovo, which has met all criteria in July 2018, the Schengen Members France and the Netherlands havent agreed to permit Kosovars to enter the territory visa-free, so the process has been put at a halt for almost three years now.

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EU Ambassador in Ecuador: EU Is Working to Extend Validity of Schengen Visas From 2 to 4 Years - SchengenVisaInfo.com

There was a sense of optimism about the European Union's relationship with the African continent in March 2020 when EU development commissioner Jutta Urpilainen and EU High Representative Josep Borrell announced their new Africa Strategy.

"The European Union is Africa's first partner by all accounts: trade, investment, development, cooperation, security. We want this to remain, to scale it further and make it even more efficient," Borrell told journalists.

2020 was expected to be a crucial year for the two continents to develop their relationship.

The new strategy announcement was seen as acurtain-raiser with the a planned AU-EU summit rounding off the year.

In March, there were high hopes when Josep Borrell and Jutta Urpilainen announced the EU's new Africa-strategy

In October 2020, the heads of state from 55 African Union and 27 EU nations and their delegations were supposed to celebratethe new partnership at a summit in Brussels.

In addition, a successor to the Cotonou Agreement, which regulates economic relations between the EU and more than 70 former colonies in Africa, Asia and the Pacific region, was to be hammered out.

Read more:EU begins tricky negotiations with developing states

With Germany holding the EU Council presidency from July to December, the country was expected to play a decisive role.

"Africa is an important aspect of our foreign policy," promised German ChancellorAngela Merkel during a keynote speech in May.

Things turned out differently than expected, though.

The EU-Africa summit has been postponed to 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, while a proposition for a virtual meet-up failed to find support.

The new Africa strategy still hasn't been approved by EU member states.

And a replacement for the Cotonou Agreement, which expires in December 2020, is nowhere in sight.

"The EU is very much preoccupied with itself partly due to the COVID-19 crisis," says Mathias Mogge from VENRO, an umbrella organization for development NGOs in Germany."Partnerships with Africa have since faded into the background."

Read more:EU is silent on West Africa's political crises

But it's not just the Europeans who are pulling the hand brake. African nations are also frustrated with the current relationship with Europe.

"Relations between Europe and Africa were never fair. Despite terms like 'international cooperation,'it's an unequal exchange where Europe plays the role of a mentor and Africa plays the role of a school pupil," says Nigerian researcher Lynda Iroulo from the German-based GIGA Institute of African Affairs.

Those working for civil society in Africa have a similar view. According to a recent VENRO poll of 221 employees from various African NGOs, half of them said cooperation with Europe "does not work well"or "not at all."

Economic relations are a major point of dispute. With 31% of exports and 29% of imports, the EU is an important trading partner for Africa.

But the relationship is extremely unequal. European states import mainly raw materials from Africa while exporting valuable manufactured goods to the continent. African economies barely stand a chance of escaping a vicious dependence cycle.

"This lopsided structure doesn't help eliminate the continent's problems like high unemployment ratesand a large informal sector," says Robert Kappel, a political scientist focusing on Africa.

Migration is another hotly contested topic. The EU routinely pressures African countries to secure their borders to stem the influx of irregular migrants crossing into Europe. Those who do so are rewarded with hefty sums of money from Europe.

It's difficult for most Africans to legally migrateto Europeunless they belong to specific professional groups desperately needed by Europe.

"African governments are certainly not satisfied with this," Ghanaian migration expert Stephen Adaawentold DW last year.

Well-educated Africanreturnees are important for developing local economies. In addition, governments benefit from the remittances sent by citizens living abroad, Adaawen pointed out.

Also, the EU's new Africa Strategy has failed to draw much interest. The EU wants to work more closelywith Africa in five key areas: green transition, digital transformation, sustainable growth and jobs, peace and governance, and migration and mobility.

But, says Mathias Mogge von VENRO, the strategy is one-sided.

The last EU-Africa summit took place in Ivory Coast in 2017

"We would like to develop such strategies with the African Union, and African and European civil society. That way, it wouldn't look as if the EU was dictating something that Africans have to react to," he says.

Whether 2021 will now become the crucial year for EU-Africa relations depends on whether the planned AU-EU summit takes place early in the year.

Critically, leaders on both continents need to agree on the summit's objectives.

"Relations between Europe and Africa can't continue as is," says political scientist Kappel. "A completely new start is needed."

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Africa-Europe relations: 2020 was a lost year - DW (English)

Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, Finance and the Recovery, and Franck Riester, Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, welcome the European Unions decision to impose duties on American products due to illegal support for Boeing, applying to exports worth up to $4 billion.

The European Union has always wanted an amicable settlement for the two ongoing Airbus/Boeing disputes, but the current American administration has so far been unreceptive to European offers.

We have checked that Airbus is in full compliance with WTO rules and have called on the United States to withdraw their tariffs which are thus unjustified. Given the American refusal to enter into serious negotiations with the European Union and to withdraw the tariffs which have been in place for over a year on certain European exports, in particular aircraft and French wine, the European Union will impose duties of 15% on medium- and long-haul aircraft and 25% on a range of agricultural and agrifood products and industrial goods. These measures will take effect on Tuesday, 10 November.

In light of the current crisis, these trade sanctions, which only serve to further penalize our economies, must be urgently lifted. We are prepared to suspend our measures at any time provided that the United States fully suspends its measures, and we want to reach a negotiated solution as soon as possible.

We reiterate that the transatlantic trade relationship is essential to our economy and, more generally, we would like to re-establish balanced and harmonious trade relations between the European Union and the United States.

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The European Union imposes duties in the Boeing World Trade Organization case - France Diplomatie

With nationalist tendencies currently resurgent around the world, Europe can and must place itself at the forefront of the issues that matter most. From promoting trade and human rights to mitigating disease and climate change, Europe can be a global beacon, fostering the kind of multilateralism that is at the heart of the European Union.

As French President Emmanuel Macron put it at the United Nations General Assembly in September, Europe must engage in building new solutions, because we are not collectively condemned to a dance of power which would, in a way, reduce us to being the sorry spectators of collective powerlessness.

A strong global role requires strong policy coherence in the EUs approach to development. The COVID-19 crisis has derailed global development goals and could push 100 million additional people globally into extreme poverty, according to the World Bank. A powerful European voice in development is therefore a moral imperative.

Such a stance is also in Europes own interest. While developing countries are grappling with the pandemics health and economic consequences, none of their existing security threats and challenges have abated. There are already indications that violence is increasing in fragile or conflict-afflicted regions, such as the Sahel and Iraq.

Meanwhile, the devastating impact of climate change on developing countries demands that Europe strengthen its international role. We know that European actions alone will not change the direction of global warming. After all, Europes carbon-dioxide emissions are less than one-third of Asias. To address the impact of climate change, we must reach beyond our borders, learn lessons, share our expertise, and cooperate with green investors everywhere. A coherent climate strategy must be a key building block of an effective European development strategy.

Europes carbon-dioxide emissions are less than one-third of Asias

Image: Statista

This requires Europe to think big on development, and go beyond the EUs four current strands of development finance activity. The bloc participates in global organizations like the World Bank, as well as in entities with a regional focus, such as the African Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. It also finances development bilaterally, through the European Investment Bank (EIB), and nationally, through institutions such as the Agence Franaise de Dveloppement.

Europe must continue to be engaged on all four fronts. But in a world of increasingly divergent national interests, the EU must also strengthen its strategic autonomy to promote its priorities and values internationally. On strategically important issues such as climate change, human rights, the transformation of global value chains, or migration, we cannot sit back and wait for the United States, China, or Russia to act. Moreover, unilateral actions by individual EU countries would be insufficient, inefficient, and even counterproductive for Europe.

The EU needs to speak with a clear voice as other global powers do already. China has not only founded the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, but also massively increased the resources and commitments of its bilateral development institution, the China Development Bank, under President Xi Jinpings signature Belt and Road Initiative. Alarmingly, while China has introduced some restrictions on fossil-fuel investment at home, its overseas investment shows a pronounced tendency toward financing coal and gas projects. China is thus opening up markets for Chinese firms while other global suppliers of clean-tech solutions fall by the wayside.

Meanwhile, the US, which has pursued an inward-looking America First policy under President Donald Trump, is bringing together various institutions under the umbrella of the US International Development Finance Corporation to strengthen its bilateral development activities. If the EU wants to level the playing field and prevent the 2015 Paris climate agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals from sliding down the global agenda it needs to reinforce its development financing activities.

Many have long regarded the establishment of an EU development bank as a necessary and proper step to bolster the blocs global role. It is now high time for member states to follow through and set up such an institution under the roof of the EIB, thus leveraging an asset they have already built together.

An EU development bank would have an immediate, significant, and resource-efficient impact. By putting the blocs national development ministers in the drivers seat, while ensuring that finance ministries have overall oversight, the new institution would bring a coordinated, transparent, and European approach to development financing that so far has been sorely lacking. Moreover, a strong governance role for the European Commission and the European External Action Service would guarantee that the banks strategy and all its individual projects served the EUs development policy targets from day one.

This new institution would not replace Europes involvement with global and regional multilateral banks, nor would it weaken the robust and diverse array of national development institutions. Rather, its role would be to give the EU a stronger voice on issues where member states share a common ambition that is not sufficiently considered at the global and regional levels, such as supporting societal resilience in fragile countries and promoting climate action.

In order to capitalize fully on the wealth of existing European development work, all national development banks and agencies should have the option to participate in the new EU development bank without, of course, losing their autonomy, national mandates, or access to EU funding instruments. This will make it possible finally to link development financing activities at the EU and national levels and ensure a transparent division of tasks.

In addition, activities co-financed by the EU development bank and national development institutions could become subject to an accelerated approval procedure for EU risk-sharing mandates (as is already the case for some EU mandates today). This would significantly increase impact without requiring any additional resources by reducing the bureaucracy (and time) involved in allocating these funds.

The EU needs to set a new course for development, and send a strong signal that Europe is ready to play its role in the world. Our history, principles, and ambition demand nothing less.

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Why the EU needs its own development bank - World Economic Forum