Brussels, 12/12/ 2014 (Agence Europe). The efforts to increase the coherence of the EU's development policies have been constant, according to the 2014 annual report on the implementation of the EU's development and external aid policy in 2013. The Council of the EU welcomed this fact, on Friday 12 December, in conclusions adopted without debate in Brussels. For the future, it hopes that this annual exercise will be more specific about cooperation between the public and private sectors and on budgetary support programmes to governments. The Council is keen to know the extent to which the commitment and results of the partner countries in terms of democracy, human rights and the rule of law have been taken into account in granting direct budgetary aid, and to assess the need for vital basic services to be provided to the populations.
The European Commission is called upon to assess the progress towards the millennium development goals (MDGs) and to learn lessons from this for the transition to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) which will take over from them. The Commission and the European External Action Service are urged to focus increasingly on preventing and fighting corruption, the global approach to conflicts and external crises and on the EU's support to sustainable change in societies in transition. (AN)