The European Union is playing an increasingly important role in mediating how the UK relates to Africa across a range of policy areas including international development, foreign policy, security, and trade. This offers both opportunities and constraints to the UK in its relationship with Africa.
This is increasingly a subject of discussion within Parliament, with a House of Commons International Development Select Committee inquiry on the comparative advantage of EU aid published in April 2012 arguing that less EU aid should go to Middle Income Countries (MICs), and a House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee report on the impact of aid published in March 2012 calling for reduced funding of the EU's aid programmes.
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