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DEVELOPMENT: EU Takes a Small Step Forward

Stefania Bianchi

BRUSSELS, Sep 11 2005 (IPS) - The new European Union development policy is only a minor step forward in the fight against poverty, development groups are warning.

The development policy statement (DPS) announced in July by the European Commission, the European Union executive, is too vague and too pro-European, development leaders said at a meeting organised last week by the Society for International Development, a Rome-based network of individuals and organisations.

“If Europe is to play a leading role in the fight for the eradication of the root causes of poverty, the DPS is only a minor step forward. In fact there is no need to have a policy statement if the EU does not get itself appropriate tools to serve this policy,” Florent Sebban, policy adviser for Eurostep, a Brussels-based network of development non-governmental organisations (NGOs) told IPS.

“Nice words alone will not diminish inequalities in the world. This statement should better clarify the tools that Europe will have at its disposal to deliver on development,” he added.

The new DPS links development support with EU common foreign and security policy, trade policy and other related policy areas such as migration, environment and employment.

It says the proposals reflect “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 Sep. 11 terrorist attacks and the increased impact of globalisation.

Louis Michel, EU commissioner for development and humanitarian affairs, said the document aimed to provide a Europe-wide consensus on the bloc’s development policy.

“This does not mean that the statement will centralise the efforts of the EU or take competences away from member states; instead it seeks to optimise the effectiveness of European cooperation,” he said.

Development groups have cautiously welcomed the proposals but say the statement needs to be strengthened before it can become an effective anti-poverty tool.

Concord, which represents several European relief and development non-governmental organisations (NGOs), says it welcomes many elements of the document. Among these are the increased involvement of parliaments in the fight against poverty, emphasis on human rights, the new reference to women’s rights under governance, and the idea of shared responsibility and accountability between the EU and its partners.

Sebban says the fact that the draft DPS applies to all developing countries is also a major improvement compared to the 2000 statement.

But development groups also point to a number of shortfalls. “The objective as spelled out in the 2000 declaration was much stronger,” Concord said in a paper in August. “Development policy is not primarily about managing globalisation; it is about social justice and poverty eradication.”

Oxfam International says the EU should reaffirm that development is vital to reduce poverty in secure as well as insecure countries. “It should also make it clear that the prime purpose of its development and humanitarian aid is to reduce poverty and meet vital human needs, impartially assessed,” Luis Morago, head of Oxfam’s EU office told IPS.

“The revised statement should contain a clear acknowledgement of the impact and importance of trade on development, and the EU should advance a genuine development agenda in global, regional and bilateral trade negotiations,” Morago said. The EU should also “put development at the heart of its own agriculture policies.”

Sven Grimm, research fellow at the London-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and author of a briefing paper on the subject, says a multiple-interest approach risks diluting the focus of the statement.

“One risk of a multiple-interest approach is that poverty reduction as an objective may receive insufficient attention,” he said. “The new DPS needs to identify linkages to related policy fields; it does not need to cover every detail.”

Some development leaders say the new policy does not address the issue of ownership of policies by partners in developing countries. “While recognising the cultural, historical and linguistic diversity in today’s world, the EU’s objective through its new DPS should be to ensure that its developing partners have the ability to decide their own development strategies and objectives,” said Sebban.

Concord says the EU should spell out how it will assess implementation of its policy. “There should be an annual report on aid effectiveness in the Union, and potentially on the mainstreaming of all cross-cutting issues,” it says.

James Mackie, head of the European programme at the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), an organisation based in Maastricht in the Netherlands that seeks to promote better trade and aid relations between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries, says one of the most problematic areas may be the focal sectors in the new statement.

The new proposal offers eight action themes for the EU that Mackie says are very broad and sometimes encompass awkward pairing of themes, like ‘human rights and capacity’.

Mackie expects the statement will lead to five key debates when member states discuss it later this year.

“These will be keeping poverty upfront, Commission complementarity with member states, strengthening the coherency of the document, maximising ownership, and the status given to the document once it is approved,” he said.

Grimm says the acid test for the policy will be its translation into practice..

“Development cooperation depends on its implementation on the ground,” he said. “More coordination of EU activities seems necessary, with regard to both policy areas and the multitude of EU actors in development.”

The DPS followed a consultation process on development earlier this year. The 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.