The European Union comprehensively reassesses its internal and external policies, its prospects and priorities. This has influenced also the official discourse of the European Union towards the interaction with the African continent, as well as the European strategies and programmes aimed at ensuring security and development in the African countries. These questions are of particular relevance in connection with the adoption in 2016 of the new Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy. The EU now sees Africa as an ever more important strategic partner, without whom the pressing problems of the European continent itself cannot be solved. Best illustration for this is the co-operation between the EU and the African continent aimed to tackle the migration crisis in the EU. Ensuring the long-term stability and solving urgent problems of the socioeconomic and human development in African countries are intrinsically linked, and all this is intertwined with the security and well-being of the EU itself. Therefore the concept of ‘security-development nexus’ (SDN) gained much currency in the EU official discourse. The EU wants to develop a comprehensive, holistic approach to African problems based on conflict prevention, early warning, mediation, development assistance, security sector reform, good governance and inter-agency cooperation. However, the EU faces many internal problems making it harder to pursue its stated aims - contraction of financial resources, a lack of coordination between the EU member states and some other. The effectiveness of the EU security-development policies can be increased by the earnest implementation of complementarity principle, and of the policy coherence for development. The global drive to achieve the new UN-set Sustainable Development Goals also underpins many EU initiatives in this sphere. That is why the ‘security-development nexus’ paradigm will continue to play a crucial role in the EU official discourse towards Africa