Brussels, 16/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - Projects aimed at entrusting the management of EU development policy to the European diplomatic service in application under the Lisbon Treaty (EUROPE 999) are cause for concern for the NGO, Eurostep, which sees politicising of development aid as a recipe for failure. “These calls to bring development aid together with Europe's foreign policy will inevitably lead to development becoming part of the EU's foreign policy. When aid is politicised in this way, which was the approach of the Bush administration, development fails”, said Simon Stocker, Eurostep Director. In Stocker's view, development policy must remain sufficiently independent of the EU's diplomatic service for it to be able to achieve its principal objective - the eradication of poverty. He went on to say: “The management of the EU's development policy must remain with the Commission, outside the new diplomatic service”. (A.N./transl.jl)