The war in Ukraine turned the agenda of the informal meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in its Development format, hosted in Montpellier on Monday 7 March, upside down. The repercussions of the war and the mobilisation of EU humanitarian aid were added as a hot topic at this meeting of the EU27 ministers and secretaries of State for development, co-chaired by the French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.
Participating in the discussions will be the European Commissioners for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, and Enlargement and Neighbourhood, Olivér Várhelyi, the President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Werner Hoyer, the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Odile Renaud-Basso, the former President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, and the Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Development, Tomas Tobé.
War in Ukraine. The meeting will start with a discussion on the coordination of European aid and concrete ways to meet the huge and growing humanitarian needs in Ukraine and neighbouring countries, as the number of refugees exceeds 1.2 million people fleeing the war. The European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, and Jean-Yves Le Drian visited Moldova together on 3 March for the purpose of this coordination. And Le Drian recently met with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.
The EU has already announced more than €500 million in humanitarian aid from its budget (see EUROPE 12902/5), and France has announced €100 million. The discussion will focus on how best to use this funding, particularly through international humanitarian organisations and NGOs.
Increasing the economic resilience of the Eastern Neighbourhood countries will also be discussed.
Ministers will also reflect on how to evolve EIB and EBRD commitments, in these circumstances, for projects in Ukraine (see other news on EIB support), but also in Russia for the EBRD. “We can no longer do business as usual”, a diplomatic source stressed on Friday, insisting on “the need for a political discussion” on this subject.
Geopolitical dimension of development. The ministers will exchange views on development policy as an element of strategic competition and influence. The idea is that putting development policy at the heart of its foreign policy should enable the EU to reap the dividends of its involvement in development as the largest donor and the largest humanitarian donor.
“At the international level, there is a confrontation of development models. Europe must be driven by this concern”, according to another diplomatic source.
The soaring price of wheat, which will hit developing countries, particularly in Africa, should be discussed and will link to the last topic on the agenda.
The ministers will exchange views on the preservation of biodiversity and sustainable food systems. Food security in the Sahel will be discussed - which is why the French Presidency of the EU Council has invited the former president of Niger. The ‘Great Green Wall’, which was relaunched last year, is not just a reforestation project, but an agro-environmental project.
The city of Montpellier, which is hosting the ministerial meeting, was deliberately chosen because it is known for its agricultural research centre for development (CIRAD). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)