Brussels, 06/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 3 March, a further step was taken towards making 2015 the European Year of Development. The MEPs of the parliamentary committee on development approved the agreement reached at trialogue on the subject.
“Thanks to the agreement reached with the Council and the Commission, European Year will, for the first time, be dedicated to external policy, which is an issue of global dimensions. And this is no coincidence, as it is in 2015 that the rich and the developing countries must jointly decide, at the UN, on a global framework and objectives for post-2015, to take over from the millennium development goals”, said Charles Goerens (ALDE, Luxembourg), rapporteur and former minister for development.
Under the slogan “Our world, our dignity, our future”, this European Year of Development will aim to inform the citizens of the EU on the development cooperation policy of the EU and its member states, seek to get them involved in the cause and to develop, both among citizens of the EU and those of the beneficiary countries, a joint sense of responsibility, solidarity and of the opportunities offered by development.
The approval vote of the European Parliament is scheduled for the plenary session to be held in Brussels in early April, and the formal approval of the Council, which will be a mere formality, should come shortly afterwards. (AN)