Brussels, 24/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - Despite significant efforts made to increase the efficiency and impact of its development aid over the past five years, EU development aid programmes (the EU is still the biggest donor of aid in the world) are in danger of suffering from poor institutional coordination. This is stressed in the last OECD report published on Tuesday 24 April on the work undertaken by the European Union in the development cooperation and humanitarian aid field (OECD Peer review).
“The report gives credit to the EU as a major global player in development cooperation and humanitarian assistance, based on the size, geographical reach and partnership dimension of its aid programmes” but the OECD considers that the EU is not fully benefiting from the opportunities provided by the Lisbon Treaty for enhancing its world leadership role. The OECD therefore recommends that the EU institutions continue their efforts to elaborate, in tandem with member states, a strategic vision using the Agenda for Change (the name of the new guidelines for a redirecting development policy, presented by the Commission in October for the post-2013 period) for meeting their commitments on poverty reduction
Given the financial crisis, the report recommends that the EU ensures that the future 2014-2020 budget allows it to underpin good strategic priorities, particularly on security, development of the private sector and the systematic integration of environmental concerns, and to communicate the results obtained to citizens in an effort to win the latter's support for development policy. Recommendations focus on enhancing the coherency of EU policies for development, by ensuring that this concern receives sufficient backing in EU decision-making process and that the target for allocating development aid of 0.7% of the EU's GNP by 2015 is met with the help of a roadmap to achieve this objective. The OECD acknowledges the EU as an effective humanitarian assistance provider, with a strong field presence and good understanding of operational realities.
Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Development, and Kristalina Georgieva, Commissioner for International Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid welcomed this report. They said that the report recognised the strength of the EU and its accomplishments as a donor, which has managed to federate member states' assistance policies and programmes. Development NGOs within the CONCORD federation welcomed the fact that the EU had made progress in developing closer co-operation with partner countries and common principles between the EU27 but underlined that a lot still needed to be done in order for aid efficiency commitments to be met and to improve the coherency of agricultural, trade and energy policies. (AN/trans/fl)