Brussels, 22/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - The response to the migrant and refugee crisis through development will be the hot topic to be debated by the Foreign Affairs Council, meeting in its Development format, in Luxembourg on Monday 26 October, two weeks ahead of the Valletta summit on migration.
The future of the partnership between the EU and the developing countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) when the Cotonou Agreement expires and preparations for the global humanitarian summit of Istanbul will also feed into the debates of this session, to be chaired by High Representative of the EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini. European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica, and Vice-President of the Commission Kristalina Georgieva will also attend.
Migration, refugees and development. It is from the point of view of this dimension of development that the ministers will discuss the migrant and refugee crisis, as they did informally on the sidelines of the UN summit in New York on 23 September. Following the very many ministerial meetings and European Councils given over to this crisis, and shortly after the extraordinary mini-summit and refugee flows along the Western Balkans route, this will give them the opportunity to take stock of the actions carried out to tackle these unprecedented flows of migrants.
The debate will focus on the underlying causes of this migration phenomenon, which is closely linked to questions of instability and lack of prospects of longer-term socio-economic development. It will be based on two questions: - what could the short-term development cooperation and assistance contribution be to provide an effective response to this crisis?; - how can the political coordination instruments be improved and the migration challenge included in the development programmes? This discussion will allow the ministers to make a contribution to the preparations underway for the EU-Africa summit to be held in Valletta and given over to the migration crisis (11-12 November).
Future of ACP-EU partnership post-Cotonou. Following the short exchange of views held by the foreign affairs ministers on 12 October (see EUROPE 11409), the Council will hold a more in-depth debate on the possible content of the partnership between the EU and the ACP countries when the Cotonou Agreement expires in 2020. The joint consultation document of the Commission and of the European External Action Service will feed into the discussions. It calls for the strengths of this partnership to be identified in each of its three dimensions - political, commercial and development - and to state the common priorities and interests it may focus on in the future, and the resources with which they will make it as efficient as possible, in an increasingly multi-polar world (see EUROPE 11405).
Sustainable development between now and 2030. The priorities and challenges for the implementation, internally and externally, of the 19 objectives and 169 targets associated with the global sustainable development programmes between now and 2030, which were adopted by the UN in September, will be on the agenda of the joint lunch to be held by the development ministers with their colleagues for the environment (see other article).
Humanitarian action. The ministers will hold preparatory discussions ahead of the global humanitarian summit, to be held in Istanbul on 23 and 24 May 2016, to look at how humanitarian action and the global humanitarian system can be adapted to the increasing number of crises and made more effective.
Gender equality and development. The Council will adopt conclusions on the action plan 2016-2020. It will define its guidelines for promoting the rights of women and girls and to allow women to become more autonomous in external relations (see EUROPE 11400 and 11326). The ministers discussed this issue on 26 May of this year.
Burundi. The Council will adopt, without debate, the letter to the Burundian authorities, formally inviting them to political consultations under article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement, to seek to remedy the violations of the essential elements of this agreement against which the EU has spoken out (see EUROPE 11401 and 11346).
Consistency of policies in service of development. The Council will adopt, without debate, conclusions on the report the Commission has just presented on the progress made by the EU between 2013 and 2015 in the consistency of its various sectorial policies in the service of development, in line with an obligation laid down in the Treaty (see EUROPE 11414).
Horn of Africa. The Council will adopt, without debate, the regional action plan of the EU in favour of the Horn of Africa for the period 2015-2020 to support the peace, stability and prosperity of the region. (Original verson in French by Aminata Niang)