A group of progressive African artists and intellectuals are calling for greater debate on the future of monetary union in West Africa following the surprising announcement on December 21, 2019 by the presidents of France and Cote d’Ivoire, Emmanuel Macron and Alassane Ouattara, to reform the CFA franc and rebaptize it the eco. Bowing to growing anti-colonial sentiment, especially to its military presence in the region, the French government and its allies have been forced to concede some changes to the CFA while still angling to preserve the status quo.

Ouattara is emblematic of the neocolonial ties between France and its former African colonies. He rose to power due to French military intervention after the disputed elections of 2010. He has long been a loyal servant of European and North American political and economic interests, both as a former IMF official and as head of the BCEAO, the common central bank that issues the West African CFA franc. With presidential elections in Cote d’Ivoire scheduled for later this year, critics view the accelerated timetable to introduce the eco—by July 2020—as an electoral ploy. In response, critics have decried the proposed reforms as merely cosmetic, falling far short of the monetary sovereignty West Africa needs in order to build widespread prosperity.

Trumpeted in many headlines as the “end of the CFA,” the announced reforms would do more to preserve the current arrangement than to fundamentally alter it. While we have yet to see detailed formal proposals, Ouattara and Macron called for changing the name from CFA, removing requirement to keep foreign reserves with the French treasury, and the removal of French representatives. These moves do not significantly change the operation of the CFA, they do not change the peg of the CFA to the euro while French government promises its controversial “convertibility guarantee.” The eco would still prioritize monetary stability exclusively, to the detriment of economic development.