Brussels, 06/12/2010 (Agence Europe) - The overriding need to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), whatever the budgetary constraints imposed by the global economic crisis, was the leitmotiv in the speeches at the opening of the fifth European Development Days (EDDs) in Brussels on Monday 6 December. Describing the event as a “major forum in the international development calendar”, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said that the EDDs, which were jointly organised by the European Commission and the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers, were also “Europe's window on the world of development”. The attendance of representatives from the highest levels of the international financial institutions, such as Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Executive Director of the IMF, and also UN agencies, NGOs and foundations, research centres and think tanks, development agencies and partner country representatives, was the proof.
A touch of EEAS. “This year, European Development Days fall at a decisive moment in our policy-making. We have put the finishing touches to the European External Action Service. As it opens its doors, this is the moment to underline once again the important role development plays at the heart of Europe's external relations,” Barroso said. Looking back to the UN Summit, in New York in September, which saw world leaders restate their commitment to achieving the MDGs by the agreed date of 2015, Barroso said that that objective was “the most challenging task that the world has ever set itself”. He added, however: “Despite of the difficulties I still believed that these goals can be achieved. In fact, it is a moral imperative to strive for their achievement”. For this to happen, however, “we need to close the gap between our indignation and resolute action”.
Shared responsibilities. This “joint” challenge is one “of developed countries who have the responsibility and obligation to help lift developing countries out of poverty; but also that of developing countries who have the primary responsibility of respecting good governance”. Referring to the “confiscation” of the victory of President elect Alassane Ouattara in the Côte D'Ivoire and the refusal of Laurent Gbagbo to accept the outcome of the vote (see related article), Barroso stated that situations such as this did not have to happen. The proof was that “we have also witnessed this last week the opposite situation in a neighbouring country - Guinea Conakry - which had been ravaged by the very same problems of the Ivory Coast in a recent past. There, the incumbent also lost the elections but, contrary to the Ivory Coast, he has recognised the results,” he said, proving that “political leadership, statesmanship and respect of the will of the people are an integral part of the development equation”. Barroso said: “I believe Modern Africa is on the move in spite of remaining serous problems”. He was pleased to note that “in the first nine months of 2010, Africa's share of the EU's total trade in goods rose to 9%”.
A new paradigm. Barroso hailed the “new development paradigm” which means that “G20 countries, which represent around 80% of the world's wealth”, recognised their responsibilities in Seoul. “We need to boost trade and investment as well as tackle global challenges like climate change and poverty,” the Commission President argued. In a few months' time, in 2011, the International Summit on the Least Developed Countries in Istanbul will have to strengthen the resistance of these countries to external pressures. European Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs called for greater commitment from the people of Europe to development policy.
Prince Philippe of Belgium said that the emergence of the notion of sustainable development had been a turning point at the Rio Summit, putting the social, economic and environmental dimensions on an equal footing. Developing every person and the whole person to make him/her able to charge of his/her own destiny was, he said, the ultimate objective of development.
Courage and lucidity to be able to do better. Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme said that the EDDs were “a landmark to report progress and reflect on the future, envisaging how to do things better”. Belgium had made development policy a real priority, despite the economic crisis, and is on its way to putting 0.7% of its GDP to official development aid, he said. He went on to congratulate “the others who have the courage and the desire to achieve this objective despite budgetary constraints, to make the choice of solidarity and future”. The EU and its partners must continue to work for the eradication of poverty and for human development, he said, going on: “Human development is much more than economic development. It is helping people make use of their full potential and optimising their choices. Poverty is a factor of social exclusion which prevents other fundamental rights being exercised”. He argued that Europe must persevere with its development cooperation policy, with lucid re-assessment of its programmes. (A.N./transl.rt)