Development & Aid, Europe, Headlines, Poverty & SDGs

DEVELOPMENT: EU Presents its Plan for the Poor

Stefania Bianchi

BRUSSELS, Jul 13 2005 (IPS) - Poverty eradication for all developing countries in line with the UN Millennium Development Goals will be the core of the European Union development policy, according to proposals announced by the European Commission Wednesday.

Under plans for the bloc’s new development policy, the European Union highlights the importance of the partnership with developing countries and the promotion of good governance, human rights and democracy. It also stresses the role of civil society and tackles conflict situations and failed states.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union (EU), sets development as a key element of the EU’s external action along with the common foreign and security policy and trade policy, and explores links with these and other related policy areas such as migrations, environment and employment.

The Commission says the proposals also recognise that the EU’s relations with each external partner are "unique" and require an individual "policy mix" of aid, trade and other policies "tailored to the needs of each partnership."

Announcing the proposals to media representatives Wednesday (Jul. 13), Louis Michel, EU commissioner for development and humanitarian affairs, said the proposals reflected "changed circumstances" since the previous development strategy was launched in 2000, as a result of the stronger consensus on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the security context after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the increased impact of globalisation.

The Commission also believes that the new "European consensus" will provide a common framework of objectives, values and principles that the bloc "supports and promotes as a global player" and as a global partner for the first time in 50 years of development cooperation..

"Last month, the European Council reached an important agreement on the Commission’s proposals to increase our development aid. To do more is essential, but we also need to do better. Since development is an area where competence is shared by the Union and its 25 member states, this requires a strategy based on coordination and harmonisation. If we really want to make poverty history, we have to act together," Michel said.

Michel also favours a system which would allow the aid activities of several member states to be merged, with one of them taking the lead.

Britain, he has suggested, could be placed in charge of implementing education programmes on behalf of the entire EU as it has many years of experience of funding schools in poor countries.

The declaration also aims to help the ten countries that joined the EU last year fashion development aid policies that incorporate lessons learned from previous experiences. Many of the new states are still at the early stages of devising development strategies.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, commissioner for external relations and European neighbourhood policy said the EU’s development policy is a strategy for "equitable" globalisation.

"By addressing the links between development and security, development and migration, development and trade, development and environment, the Commission seeks to give the best possible response to a broad variety of situations and needs in our partner countries," she said.

Development groups cautiously welcomed the proposals but urged the EU to deliver on its proposals.

"We challenge leaders in the European institutions and the member states to affirm strong political support for development through a strengthened joint Development Policy Statement with clear principles and commitments, followed through at the levels of policies and practice as well as financing," Frans Polman, president of CONCORD, the European network of relief and development groups, said Wednesday.

Rein Antonissen, EU policy officer from the Belgium platform of CONCORD said the implications of the bloc’s plan for development would be huge.

"Following recent pledges on aid, debt and trade, we will follow closely the efforts of the EU in putting forward a mighty plan for development. This will affect the lives of millions of poor people and we all need to do it right," he said.

The Commission’s proposals are a result of a consultation process on the bloc’s development policy which took place earlier this year.

The Commission received 529 contributions from various stakeholders – members of the European Parliament, representatives from member states, local and regional authorities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), trade unions and individuals.

The consultation aimed to start a debate on how the Union should face the challenges of development cooperation. The majority of stakeholders agreed that poverty eradication should remain the main goal of any new policy statement and that the EU should agree on a common framework for development cooperation.

Many also emphasised the need for coherence among the different elements of the EU’s external action, stressing that development policy should not be subordinated to other EU policies such the bloc’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) or migration policy.

Instead, respondents urged the bloc to take development objectives into account in other policy areas such as trade.

The Commission says the consultation process and its outcomes have provided "valuable advice" and were taken into account in drafting the new development policy.

Wednesday’s proposals are the first of a two-part statement on the bloc’s development policy. While the first part addresses the objectives, principles and values of EU development policy, the second, which is due to be announced later this year, will provide guidance for its implementation at community level.

These proposals now have to be approved the European Council, which brings together the heads of the EU’s 25 member states, and the European Parliament before they can enter into force.