Joint Committee Meeting on the EU and Development Policy

The European Parliament hosted a joint Development Committee meeting on 26 June, for members of the European Parliament and their counterparts from national parliaments. The committee focused on the EU’s development policy in general during the first part of the meeting; moving to discussions around the role parliaments can play in the Aid Effectiveness agenda in the context of policy coherence for development (PCD); and finally coming to the situation for new member states (NMS) in terms of EU development cooperation.

Speakers such as Commissioner Louis Michel and CONCORD director Olivier Consolo addressed the group, and a lively discussion was held on all topics covered by the agenda.

Concerning the new member states, MEP Danutė Budreikaitė presented the findings of her report on the topic, and underlined the lack of donor experience in these countries. She talked about their relative advantage when it comes to experience and shared history with the Western Balkans. Budreikaitė spoke about the lack of traditional links to African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and highlighted the focus on good governance and human rights, rather than the general poverty reduction focus the rest of the EU seems to favour. When talking about the particular challenges NMS face, Budreikaitė mentioned the lack of centralised structures dealing with development cooperation; the NGOs that lack resources; the awareness raising that is needed among the general public and the weak coordination between different actors in the field.

MEP Filip Kaczmarek added to what Budreikaitė had said, by saying that the path the NMS are following is not always compatible with that of the rest of the EU where development cooperation is concerned. He underlined the problems linked to coordination, citing an example from Poland where Tanzania was chosen as a priority country one year, only for the Polish Embassy there to be closed the following year. One problem regarding the public, in his mind is the recognition of humanitarian aid compared to the incomprehension of development aid. Kaczmarek finished by saying that even in the NMS, development issues are hot topics, as they are linked to so many other burning issues like migration, human rights and the current food crisis.

A fuller report of the event is available from Rebecca Steel: trialog@concordeurope.org
EP press release: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/028-32509-176-06-26-903-20080623IPR32504-24-06-2008-2008-false/default_en.htm

Information provided by Rebecca Steel, TRIALOG