Global Development Policy – Which Role for Europe?

The role of Europe in the global development policy was the focus of the speech of Dr. Marcus Cornaro, Dirctor for European Neighbourhood policy at EuropeAid at an event oganised by the Austrian Development Agency on September 7, 2010.

In his speech, Dr. Cornaro explained that with the Lisbon treaty and the establishment of the European External Action Service, development policy got the status of an important European policy. The challenges now are on one hand the establishment of new parameters for the development policy for the time 2014 – 2020 (accompanied by the new financial perspectives) and on the other hand the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

He emphasised that in order to reach the MDGs by 2015 a quantum jump in development cooperation is needed as 1.4 billion people still live in extreme poverty and the means provided by the EU and its member states are far below their commitments.

Some trends in the European development policy he mentioned, are the promotion of regional cooperation (in trade, transport, environment etc.), linking grants with loans for infrastructure projects and driving reforms via recipients budgets.

Global debates currently revolve around four main issues which are (1) the MDG review, (2) role and place for emerging donors (China, Brazil, India, Russia and South Africa), (3) Aid fatigue combined with food, fuel and financial crisis and (4) the role of public ODA versus the share of private sector (Corporate Social Responsibility) and philantropy (like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation).

The European angle in this context is focused on the division of labour between EU and its member states and the question of what the European added value is; the programming 2014-2020 with better cooperation and coordination with member states against fragmentation of development cooperation; and the MDGs.

In the review of the European development policy the focus will be on inclusive, smart and sustainable growth. Emphasis will be placed on the following issues: How to deal with the “fragile bottom billion”? Linking development finance and leverage; Policy coherence; Natural resources and green growth; New ways of public – private partnerships, Phasing out middle income countries.

Information provided by Christine Bedoya, TRIALOG