Brussels, 15/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - Development ministers of the 27 EU member states are determined to keep on track for an ambitious development policy, whatever ups and downs there may be and despite constraints imposed by the economic and financial crisis. Aid effectiveness, to ensure ambition remains intact in times of crisis, was therefore the watchword at their informal meeting held on 15 July in Sopot (see EUROPE 10418). Krzysztof Stanowski, the under-secretary of state for development cooperation at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said after the session under his chairmanship (our translation): “Discussion covered the need to adjust development policy to current challenges and to identify how, in the new financial perspectives, we are going to promote our development policy by joint instruments or reflection in common”.
All participants hailed the role imparted to development and external action in the proposal for a multiannual financial agreement 2014-2020. “€100 billion - that is less than aid to Greece”, said Andris Piebalgs, Development Commissioner, who was delighted by this first reflection on the future budget. The stakes of development policy are, he said, to “build winning strategies for a safer and more prosperous world and to increase the sustainability of work by the 27 to attain these goals”.
The 27 EU member states have begun preparations for the fourth UN high level forum on aid effectiveness (Busan, 29 November-1 December 2012), the most important event in the development calendar under Polish Presidency which, for the first time, is planning a joint meeting between donor countries and southern recipient countries. “It is impossible to establish a unilateral model of aid effectiveness. We must work all together”, said Stanowski, announcing that the November Development Council will adopt conclusions with a view to the Busan meeting. The exchange of views on EU development strategies in Central Asia and the Pacific has made it possible to illustrate the merits of the joint aid programme between the Commission and member states given that, in theses two areas where only a few member states have bilateral aid programmes, “joint programming takes on a whole new meaning if all are involved - otherwise we run the risk of ineffectiveness”, Stanowski said. During a working dinner, the EU27 also discussed the place and role of democracy in development policy. A contribution was made by Haja Zainab Bangura, a former civil society activist from Sierra Leone who became foreign minister and then health minister of a country “which went from a military dictatorship to full democracy”. “That is a model we should like to spread”, concluded Stanowski. (A.N./transl.jl).