Brussels, 13/11/2009 (Agence Europe) - With 20 days to go until the world climate conference in Copenhagen (COP 15, 7-18 December), the implications of climate change on European development policy will be the hottest political subject on the agenda for the EU27 cooperation and development ministers meeting on Tuesday 17 November in Brussels, under the chairmanship of the Swedish minister, Gunilla Carlsson. This session is part of the Jumbo Council framework (see previous article). The heads of state and government decided on the formal EU negotiating mandate at the last European Council (EUROPE 10010), which is adapted to the links between climate and medium and long term development on which the Council conclusions will concentrate.
Conclusions are expected on EU coherency policies and EU support for democracy in developing countries, which will be tackled before the joint debate between foreign affairs and development ministers on a case on which many lessons can be learned, Afghanistan.
On the other hand, aid efficiency, which is expected to be the subject of unanimous conclusions on the elaboration of an operational guide already approved by the EU27 ambassadors (COREPER), will finally be subject to a simple orientation debate, at the request of the new German Liberal minister, Dirk Niebel.
Ministers will also have an informal exchange of views on the volume of European aid to poor countries in the context of reaching 0.7% of combined GNP in 2015, with an intermediate stage by 2010.
Public development aid. The Council will have an informal discussion during a working breakfast. The subject was included in the agenda at the request of the Netherlands. The aim is to examine the levels of aid from individual member states and the transfer of this aid to an objective for which the EU intends to bring the average rate of its PDA to 0.56% of GNP in 2010. The current average is only 0.4%. The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Luxembourg can already pride themselves on having already reached the level of 0.7% of their GNP and will be exposed to domestic public criticism if other member states do not do likewise. Such disparities are unfair. Last May, the Council adopted conclusions (EUROPE 9905) on the basis of the Commission's annual report on performance follow-up in the Monterrey Process (the name of the Mexican city where the world conference on PDA was held in 2002). The next formal conclusions are expected next May. The most generous delegations do not want to wait until 2010 to point out that the EU will not have attained its objective. At a time when national budgets are subject to lengthy discussions, these delegations want to put pressure on their colleagues and obtain a strong political boost to keeping up the effort.
Development and democracy. The Council will hold a debate on support for democracy in Afghanistan and highlight the links between foreign policy (action plan which has just been adopted on enhancing EU action in Afghanistan and Pakistan) and development policy.
The conclusions to be adopted will draw up an inventory of all EU instruments for increasing the coherency of its actions in support of democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights in the world.
Climate change and development. The Council will hold an orientation debate on the implications of global warming for the adaptation of developing countries and EU development policy. The conclusions are expected to underline the importance of integrating climate concerns into medium and long-term development policy in an effort to reach the climate targets included in the Copenhagen Agreement and the Millennium Development Goals.
The Council will invite the Commission and member states to engage in deeper dialogue with partner countries and include their concerns about the climate in their development strategies and budget processes.
The most generous delegations in granting public development aid do not want to miss this opportunity to mention money and insist on the additional nature that adaptation funding should take, but the issue still needs resolving. It will be up to the Council to decide if it wants to formulate this demand or not.
European policy coherency. The Council will adopt conclusions included in the European Commission's idea of concentrating this exercise on a limited number of priorities (EUROPE 1000 and 9979) so that coherency efforts bear fruit in developing countries. The priorities identified by the Council are: trade; climate change; food safety, migration, security issues and development.
Aid efficiency. The Council will hold an orientation debate on the most suitable means of improving the agenda on the ground, with the aim of providing the most efficient EU aid in respect of the Accra principles (where the high level forum on aid efficiency from rich countries was held in September 2008), particularly by way of the division of labour between donor countries, the use of national aid recipient country systems and technical cooperation. (A.N./transl.fl)