No country is on track to meet the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, but the EU, which aims to be a global leader, needs to step up its efforts in the remaining 8 years, say MEPs on the European Parliament’s Development Committee (DEVE) and Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI).
The own-initiative report by Barry Andrews (Renew Europe, Ireland), co-rapporteur for DEVE, and Petros Kokkalis (The Left, Greece), co-rapporteur for ENVI, on the implementation of the SDGs by the EU was adopted on Thursday 2 June by 87 votes to 7 with 13 abstentions (see EUROPE 12953/12). It points to governance gaps, despite improved monitoring by Eurostat and country reports (see EUROPE 12958/1).
The report calls on the EU to make the SDGs a priority in all its policies and to improve its governance. European governance including the SDGs in a cross-cutting approach would allow for greater coherence and effectiveness of public policies, say MEPs.
A high-level internal strategy. According to MEPs, the most important policy initiatives or programmes for the EU’s implementation of the SDGs are the ‘Fit for 55’ legislative package, the Common Agricultural Policy, the Fisheries Policy and the EU Trade Policy.
The report highlights that the EU faces major challenges in areas such as sustainable food systems, clean and affordable energy, agriculture, climate and biodiversity. To achieve policy coherence on these crucial issues and stimulate urgent action, MEPs call on the Commission to adopt a high-level strategy for the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda.
MEPs call on the EU to make the implementation of the SDGs - internally and externally - a key priority in all EU policies, ensuring their coherence. To this end, they call on the European Commission to appoint a Special Envoy for the SDGs, a position that would be accountable to the Commissioner responsible for the SDGs (Paolo Gentiloni) and which would promote coherent action at the global level through the EU’s external action.
While OECD countries are closest to achieving the 2030 Agenda goals, they are generating the greatest negative repercussions which undermine the ability of other countries to meet their targets, say MEPs.
They also call for adequate funding and in particular for the EU to meet its target of allocating at least 20% of official development assistance to human development.
This own-initiative report is purposely adopted ahead of the UN High-Level Forum on Sustainable Development (New York, 13-15 July for the ministerial segment).
See the draft report: https://aeur.eu/f/1x9
See the compromise amendments: https://aeur.eu/f/1x8 (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)