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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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The African and the European nations, at their summit in Lisbon, agreed on promoting economic partnership on an equal-to-equal basis. Being considered equal to the Europeans is much more than part of the diplomatic protocol for most African nations. After all, being equal with their former colonial masters is a mater of human dignity. The declaration at the end of the summit, however, reveals a different nature of the relations between the two continents. Instead of equality, the document speaks using words of the old European paternalism; the African countries are at most considered as young partners ready to apply the norms of the civilized world, in exchange for which they will get some help and promises for fresh investments. The summit, far from inventing new formula for economic progress, at least identified for the first time (involuntarily) the final map of Europe.

50 years since the official beginning of the European economic integration beyond the coal and steel agreements, and almost half a century after the process of decolonization in Africa became irreversible, representatives of the former masters and slaves gathered amid celebration mood in Lisbon to open new chapter in the relations between the two continents. Some of the previous chapters are painful to read; in addition to well-known widespread slavery up to the first half of the 19th c. and colonialism up to the aftermath of the World War II, there are many foreign-sponsored coups, unofficial economic sanctions, foreign-made creation of artificial animosity between ethnic and religious groups, and finally, the lack of interest in preventing several cases of ethnic cleansing and other forms of genocide. No matter how hard the European leaders are working, the past cannot be easily erased.

The time now is for business, and it seems that the two continents are better prepared now than ever to be of mutual benefit in reaching (or maintaining) economic prosperity. The recipe is well known; it's the full spectrum of liberal economic strategies regardless of local expertise. To use the official language of the summit, the two continents will work for "establishment of a robust peace and security architecture in Africa; (for) the strengthening of investment, growth and prosperity through regional integration and closer economic ties; (for) the promotion of good governance and human rights; and (for) the creation of opportunities for shaping global governance in an open and multilateral framework". In other words, Africa is ill, and Europe has the cure. In this relationship of 'equals', the Africans will have to do what are told to. 'Equality' between Europe and Africa doesn't exist more than in the relations between the medical doctors and the sick persons.

The summit didn't invent any new formula for economic prosperity. What it did for the first time was something completely unintentional; it did draw the borders of the united Europe (see the picture). Far from representing the European Union, it shows Europe as it appears in the minds of the Eurocrats in Brussels; note that Ukraine and Belarus (yes, Belarus of Lukashenko!), plus all former Yugoslav republics and Albania, are all inside Europe. Turkey and Russia, however, are missing. As for the later, its absence indicates that 'Europe' on the picture doesn't represent the continent geographically, but politically.

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