By deciding to rename the CFA franc the eco without notifying the non-WAEMU ECOWAS member countries, French and Ivorian presidents Macron and Ouattara have visibly tried to torpedo the monetary integration project designed by ECOWAS. Some Anglophone analysts have spoken of the 'kidnapping' of the eco, based on the fact that the WAEMU countries, with the exception of Togo, do not meet the criteria defined by ECOWAS and also on the invitation made by Macron to Anglophone countries, with the exception of Nigeria, to join the WAEMU zone.

Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa's Last Colonial Curr…, loc. 379