Brussels, 02/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - Half-way through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agenda, subscribed by the international community in 2000 to be reached in 2015, the year 2008 is crucial for the international development agenda. In September 2008 in Accra (Ghana), a UN summit will take stock of progress accomplished and, on 9 April, with this in mind, the European Commission will present its communications “package” on ways to move more quickly and more effectively towards achieving MDGs in order to reduce poverty in the world by half. A short policy paper on “speeding up progress towards MDGs - EU: a global development partner”, will introduce four detailed documents on: - the volume of aid in the context of the Monterrey process relating to development financing; - aid effectiveness; - consistency in EU policies; - and aid to trade.
Development NGOs, which are specialised in questions of debt alleviation and the eradication of poverty, have now alerted public opinion on the road the EU and all fund providers have still to cover to live up to their ambitions (EUROPE 9631). The United Kingdom, for its part, plans to make an active contribution to the debate on improving European aid effectiveness. On the strength of progress made in 2005 under the British EU Council Presidency and the G8 summit, in growth of financial resources (the EU had then taken the commitment to increase official development aid for each member state to 0.51% of GNP in 2010 to reach 0.7% in 2015), Gareth Thomas, Under Secretary of State for the UK's Department for International Development, presented, on 31 March in Brussels, his vision of the EU's role in development aid during a conference jointly organised by the Think Tank Friends of Europe and the British Department for International Development (DFID). Public consultation on the DFID's EU Institutional Strategy Paper provided the occasion for this. In his speech, Gareth Thomas hopes the draft, entitled “Working with the European Union: Europe for Development”, will help to define the United Kingdom's strategy for 2008-2010.
What the United Kingdom wants is to work with its European partners to ensure that commitments on increasing and improving aid are fulfilled, that there is further reform of European development assistance and institutions, and to foster a strong EU voice for development, reflecting the EU's dominance of development assistance and its policy influence. “With its global presences and global influence, the EU has a unique standing in the world. It is the world's largest development aid donor, the world's leading humanitarian donor, the world's largest single market and the main trading partner of most developing countries”, Gareth Thomas states. Also, in his view, the Lisbon Treaty provides a legal status for combating poverty for the very first time and is an opportunity to be seized in order to do even better.
The United Kingdom recommends three ways to enhance Europe's role in international development:
- Political leverage for development. The year 2008, launched by Gordon Brown and the UN secretary general as a “Year of Action” at the Davos Summit in January, will require a concerted effort on the part of the governments of rich countries and developing countries, the private sector, civil society and multilateral organisations. So that this Year of Action is a success with a view to the Accra summit, Gareth Thomas states, everything that Europe does, that Europe is willing to agree to, will be determining.
- More and better aid. Convinced that European aid can make all the difference when it comes to combating poverty, the British minister says “Now better targeted and more effective than in the past, there have been substantial improvements in EC aid. However, there is still room for improvement”. With regard to aid, he wants to see an improvement in the poverty focus and impact of EC aid, in both low and middle income countries. He said the increased emphasis on poverty reduction will, they hope, have a positive impact on the amount of funding made available. To foster the EU voice for development, Gareth Thomas recommends strengthening the role of the development commissioner, who should be at the head of an “administrative structure responsible for development policy-making and aid implementation”, the “re-organisation of the current management of external relations” so that “relations with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and with Asia and Latin America would be managed by the Development Commissioner”, and “stronger and more effective EU delegations”.
Wider policies for development. Gareth Thomas explained that it is above all a matter of working together so that measures aimed at promoting peace and security also promote the alleviation of poverty and sustainable development, so that the CAP Health Check leads to a still greater reduction in agricultural subsidies that create distortion in trade, in order to finance an investment fund open to all donors to help developing countries meet the challenge of climate change, and to work to achieve the ambitious and pro-development conclusion of the Doha Round as soon as possible. (A.N.)