The euro and colonialism

During my summer vacations¹, I read Revolusi, David Van Reybrouck’s great book about the history of Indonesia, which might seem to be a long way from the subject of this blog, but he devotes three pages to the European Union and its origins, while three of its founding countries still had colonies. He highlights the conjunction between the negotiations for the Treaty of Rome (1955-1957), the Bandung Conference (April 18-24, 1955) and the Suez Canal crisis (July-November 1956), and argues that the creation of a united Europe was a reaction to anti-colonial movements in Asia and Africa.

The mindset underlying Europe was late colonial, rather than post-colonial.

David Van Reybrouck, Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World (2024 English translation from the Flemish 2020 first edition), p. 508. See below article 131 of the Treaty of Rome as an example of this mindset.

For these pages, Van Reybrouck draws on Peo Hansen and Stefan Jonsson’s book Eurafrica: The Untold History of European Integration and Colonialism (2014)², available in an open access format on the website of Bloomsbury, its publisher. Unless I’m mistaken, these two authors did not write about currency or monetary policy (this is not a criticism; it is quite logical given the book’s chronological range).

Yet the link between the euro and colonialism is strong, as the European currency, in inheritance from the French franc, is linked to the CFA franc, i.e. two African currencies: the Franc Communauté financière en Afrique, currently used in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo, and the CEMAC (Coopération économique et monétaire en Afrique centrale) CFA franc, the currency of Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo and Chad. Most of these countries are former French colonies.

The CFA franc has a fixed parity with the euro, €1 = 655.957 CFA francs (1 CFA franc ≈ €0.00152), guaranteed by the Banque de France³. The fixed parity guaranteed by France requires some of the African countries concerned to deposit 50% of their foreign exchange reserves with the French Treasury in an interest-bearing account; since 2019, this obligation no longer applies to Franc Communauté Financière countries. So we can clearly see how the shadow of French colonialism hangs over a number of African countries, through the intermediary of the euro, even though all CFA members can freely and unilaterally leave this agreement. It should also be pointed out that some economists see a positive side to this system, as it is said to bring a certain stability to the economies of the African countries involved.

The history of the abbreviation CFA clearly illustrates this remnant of colonialism: from 1945 to 1958, it stood for “Colonies françaises d’Afrique” (French colonies in Africa), from 1958 to 1960 for “Communauté française d’Afrique” (French community of Africa), and now it stands for either “Communauté financière en Afrique” (African Financial Community) or “Coopération financière en Afrique” (African Financial Cooperation).

While the European Central Bank’s decisions on the euro affect more than 195 million Africans, unless I am mistaken, there is no position in this institution’s decision-making bodies for anyone representing African countries.

There are lively discussions in West Africa about the end of the CFA franc and the establishment of a new common African currency, the eco, but that is outside the scope of this blog, and I shall not discuss it here.

Annex I. Article 131

To fully understand the influence of colonialism on the Treaty of Rome, Article 131 and the list of countries or territories it concerns are a must read⁴.

Article 131

The Member States hereby agree to bring into association with the Community the non-European countries
and territories which have special relations with Belgium, France, Italy and the Netherlands. These countries
and territories, hereinafter referred to as “the countries and territories”, are listed in Annex IV to this Treaty.
The purpose of this association shall be to promote the economic and social development of the countries
and territories and to establish close economic relations between them and the Community as a whole.
In conformity with the principles stated in the Preamble to this Treaty, this association shall in the first place
permit the furthering of the interests and prosperity of the inhabitants of these countries and territories in
such a manner as to lead them to the economic, social and cultural development which they expect.

Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (Rome, 25 March 1957)

ANNEX IV

Note the absence of Algeria, due to its special status in France.

Annex IV: Overseas countries and territories to which the provisions of Part IV of the Treaty apply

French West Africa: Senegal, French Sudan, French Guinea, Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Mauritania, Niger, and Upper Volta;

French Equatorial Africa: Middle Congo, Ubangi-Shari, Chad and Gabon;

Saint Pierre and Miquelon, the Comoro Archipelago, Madagascar and dependencies, French Somaliland, New Caledonia and dependencies, French Settlements in Oceania, Southern and Antarctic Territories;

The Autonomous Republic of Togoland;

The trust territory of the Cameroons under French administration;

The Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi;

The trust territory of Somaliland under Italian administration;

Netherlands New Guinea

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Treaty_establishing_the_European_Economic_Community/Annex_IV:_Overseas_countries_and_territories_to_which_the_provisions_of_Part_IV_of_the_Treaty_apply

Annex 2: CFA franc banknotes

As this blog deals with the images of the euro, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say a few words about the design of CFA franc banknotes. It seems to me noteworthy that it is the exact opposite of the euro banknotes. Whereas the euro banknotes focus on architectural heritage and people are strikinly absent, notwithstanding the fine theme of doors, bridges and windows showing the transparency and ease of relations and exchanges between European Union countries, the CFA franc banknotes show children, men and women, animals and modern machinery – in short, a life and dynamism that European banknotes lack.

Two examples of Community Franc banknotes⁵

Two examples of previous CFA CEMAC franc banknotes (2002)⁶

The new CFA CEMAC franc banknotes (2022)

1. For the French original version of this blog entry, see here. [↩]
2. Reviews: J. Bohling, French Politics, Culture & Society, vol. 35, no. 2, 2017, pp. 140–42 ; M. Gilbert, The Eurafrican Idea, Survival 58, 6 (2016-2017), p. 187-194 ; K. Muller, Eurafrica: The Untold History of European Integration and Colonialism, The European Legacy, 22(1) (2016), p. 105–106 ; M. Racine, Eurafrica, the untold history of European integration and colonialism, by Peo Hansen and Stefan Jonsson, Mediterranean Historical Review, 32(2) (2017), p. 273–277 ; A.I. Richard, Review of Hansen, P.; Jonsson, S. (2014) Eurafrica. the untold history of European integration and colonialism, Journal Of Global History 11(1) (2016), p. 151-153 ; D. Trilling, Colonialism by Other Means, Soundings 59 (2015), p. 141-144. French translation: C. Habart, Eurafrique. Aux origines coloniales de l’Union Européenne (Paris, 2022). Reviews of the French translation : F. Blum, L’histoire européenne lue comme une histoire coloniale, En attendant Nadeau (October 1st, 2022) (rather severe) ; A. Boubeker, « HANSEN P., JONSSON S., Eurafrique. Aux origines coloniales de l’Union européenne, La Découverte, mai 2022 », Le Portique 47 (2022); A. Félix, Recension de l’ouvrage Eurafrique. Aux origines coloniales de l’UE, de Peo Hansen et Stefan Jonsson, Le temps des ruptures (2 janvier 2023) ; Paul Mayens, « Peo Hansen et Stefan Jonsson, Eurafrique. Aux origines coloniales de l’Union européenne », Lectures (September 8, 2022). [↩]
3. See the “Africa-France partnerships” page on the Banque de France website, which is very clear and rich in information and links to various official documents. [↩]
4. See H. Eklund, Peoples, Inhabitants and Workers: Colonialism in the Treaty of Rome, The European Journal of International Law 34.4 (2023), p. 831-854. [↩]
5. See the Banque Centrale des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest website for explanations of banknote designs. [↩]
6. See the Banque des États de l’Afrique Centrale website for information on banknote designs. [↩]

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