The European Parliament's development committee, chaired by Tomas Tobé (EPP, Sweden), held an overview on Tuesday 23 July, together with the Commission and the Finnish Presidency of the EU Council, of the issues that will concern it, from the universal sustainable development programme to humanitarian aid, including the post-2020 partnership negotiations with the 79 ACP countries.
The Paris Agreement and Agenda 2030 are the foundation of international cooperation and development cooperation must be based on human rights, the rule of law, democracy, peace, freedom and tolerance, said the new Finnish Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, Ville Skinnari.
Sustainable development. "Implementing our commitments under the UN 2030 Agenda, the European Consensus on Development, the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid are the priorities" of the Finnish Presidency, with particular attention to gender equality, the rights of young girls, as well as strengthening the partnership with Africa. If the world does not make the necessary efforts to fight climate change, all development efforts will be undermined, he warned.
According to Stefano Manservisi, Director General at the Commission, Agenda 2030 is not only about transferring funds, but also about ensuring the sustainability of development on a global scale to live in a better world. This requires "money, good policies, a partnership". He stressed the need for each country to have an integrated action plan and an integrated financing framework for achieving the SDGs.
Rasa Juknevičienė (EPP, Lithuania) asked whether, in this approach to sustainable development, we should not help "important eastern neighbours such as Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova". According to Mr Manservisi, "all aid to these countries is official development assistance ", like mobility assistance in Moldova.
To Catherine Chabaud (Renew Europe, France), who asked about the policy of restoring coastal ecosystems, "knowing that by 2050, 80% of the world's population will live on the coastal fringe", Mr Manservisi gave the example of a financing agreement he had just signed in Senegal under the Global Climate Change Alliance.
EPA. Marc Tarabella (S&D, Belgium) asked whether the economic partnership agreements between the EU and African countries were compatible with the SDGs. He recalled that in West Africa, Nigeria, the largest economy, has not signed the EPA. In Central Africa, Cameroon is the only one of the eight countries to have ratified it. In Eastern and Southern Africa, the EPA is provisionally applied in five out of 11 countries. In East Africa, Tanzania has refused to ratify it. Mr Manservisi said he did not know whether the EPAs would achieve their objectives, but said they were designed for middle-income countries so that they could continue to enjoy duty-free and quota-free access to the European market. According to him, "Nigeria is preventing the proper functioning of ECOWAS". He added: "In the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area, we call on countries not to reject EPAs".
Cotonou post-2020. MEPs were informed of progress in the negotiation of the modernised partnership with ACP countries (see EUROPE 12261/14).
According to Koen Doens, Deputy Director General of the Commission, "an agreement has almost been reached" on: - human and social development; - the environment and climate; - human rights, governance and the rule of law; - peace and security. Negotiations are progressing well on sustainable economic development, mobility and migration. The general provisions concerning in particular the political dialogue and the financial means related to the future EU budget will be discussed after the summer. The chief negotiators will meet in September and late October.
Ebola. MEPs were informed by Monique Pariat, Director General of ECHO, of the EU's response to the epidemic in the DRC, with €22 million disbursed in the DRC and neighbouring countries since 2018. The European Centre for Disease Control considers that the risk of virus introduction into the EU is low, but not non-existent. Charles Goerens (ALDE, Luxembourg) welcomed the EU's immediate response, unlike what happened in 2014 in West Africa. A debate will take place at the next meeting of the commission, Tomas Tobé said. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)