The European Union is represented in Mozambique by a Delegation in Maputo established in 1985, which is one of the 140 European Union Delegations in the world.
The European Commission is one of the institutions of the European Union, the others being the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors. The European Union is made up of 27 Member States, has a population of around 500 million and is the largest trading bloc in the world.
The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on the 1st of December 2009 has reinforced the role of the Delegation, which has the status of a diplomatic mission and officially represents the European Union in Mozambique. The Head of Delegation is Mr. Antonio Sanchez-Benedito Gaspar.
The Delegation's mandate includes the following:
- Ensuring the official representation of the European Union to the Republic of Mozambique ;
- Ensuring the follow-up of bilateral relations in the areas of political, economic, trade and external assistance cooperation (financial and technical);
- Promoting and defending the values and policies of the EU in an open and equal partnership with the Government and people of Mozambique;
- Implementing EU's long-term development assistance programs in Mozambique, within the scope of external aid management, in line with local priorities currently focused on the implementation of the Peace Agreement, post-cyclone recovery and reconstruction, mitigating the effects of climate change and, more recently, the reorientation of assistance to respond to the Covid19 pandemic.
- Promoting the political and economic relations between Mozambique and the EU by maintaining extensive relations with governmental institutions and sub-national actors;
- Managing a very substantial aid programme to Mozambique - the main instrument of co-operation is the European Development Fund (EDF) – currently the 11th EDF - under implementation with a budget of 734 Million € for the period 2014-2020.