The EU’s “comprehensive approach” in external action policy has provoked a range of responses - but the most widespread seems to be confusion. Ask 10 people from across the EU institutions to define the comprehensive approach and chances are you’ll get 10 different answers. While the basic premise is simple enough to grasp, it’s hard to find consensus, common language or any sense that the EU is actually acting comprehensively. Current developments in Mali have made the necessity for clarity even more pressing. This blog seeks to explore the key questions needed to frame the ...
The OECD hosted the 2013 Policy Dialogue on Aid for Trade last week to discuss “how to continue delivering aid for trade results in a changing international environment for trade and development”. While this in part retread old ground, discussions nonetheless suggested that a change in thinking is taking place, particularly in terms of working with the private sector and helping developing country companies enter into global value chains. As my colleague Dan Lui discussed in a previous blog, the Aid for Trade agenda has faced a constant stream of questions, among others about definition ...
Trade ministers and officials from South and North, academics, and donors will gather at the OECD in Paris next week for a policy dialogue to discuss the future of the Aid for Trade initiative. Conceived in 2005 in the context of the WTO Doha Round, Aid for Trade aims to improve the trading prospects of developing countries through targeting aid to this sector. In the seven years since its launch, there has already been a fair amount of navel-gazing amongst policymakers on questions of how to ‘operationalise’ such a broad and ambitious agenda. In the ...
This article was published on 7 December and is available on the website of Friends of Europe. The scenario is quite familiar. If budget cuts are to be made in times of crisis, development spending is the first and easiest target for European policymakers. In preparing for the 2013 budget, several EU member states seem to have forgotten about their longstanding commitments to reach the 0,7% target of GDP as Official Development Assistance (ODA) by 2015. Cutting development budgets first is also common practice in EU institutions. In trying to broker a compromise deal on ...
Geert Laporte co-authored this article. European Heads of State were recently advised to bring more than one shirt to the 22-23 November summit to discuss the EU budget. Those who specialise in the relations between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries will definitely also need a few more shirts during the next few weeks. From 27-29 November the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) convened in Suriname, a destination European MEPs only agreed to on condition that the country’s president Desi Bouterse would not turn up. During this meeting the ACP Secretary ...
This article was published on 6 December and is available on the European Report on Development blog. ++ SERIES: BUILDING THE POST-2015 DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK++ Preparation of the European Report on Development 2013 is now well underway. It will focus on “Elements for a Post-2015 Agenda” and aims at feeding into the debate about what development framework should replace the Millennium Development Goals after their expiry date in 2015. As part of the background research work for this report, the ERD team is conducting four country case studies (in Nepal, Peru, Rwanda and Côte d’Ivoire) to ensure that the report reflects ...
Staffing issues are all the talk in Brussels at the moment amid heated discussions over the next EU budget. EU Member States want the European Commission (EC) to reduce its staff by more than 5 % over the next 5 years, more than Council President van Rompuy recently proposed. In particular, Member State officials have made critical observations about the size of the Directorate-General for Development and Cooperation – EuropeAid (DG DEVCO). Counting 6.5% of the EC’s Brussels-based staff, it is the second largest of the EC’s offices in Brussels. However, DEVCO staff manages relatively ...
When I visited Tanzania in early 2009, small street shops were selling fabric with the face of Obama and the famous ‘Yes we Can’ election slogan printed on them. Few months later, I bought a box of Obama gum from a store in Burundi. The box of gum was a special edition produced by a Kenyan candy factory to celebrate the election of Obama into the White House. Africa was clearly proud of its (half) son and expectations that his election would yield a new era in US-Africa relations were very high. But the Obama-fever ...
Florian Kratke co-authored this article. European Heads of State will be taking more than one shirt to the 22-23 November budget summit, anticipating lengthy negotiations for reaching the political agreement on future EU funding needed by the end of the year. EU insiders are expecting a deal to include cuts of up to €200 billion. A key question is how much development cooperation expenditure will be lost in the process. The revised “negotiation box” for the EU’s 2014-2020 Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF), presented by the Cyprus EU Presidency at the end of October, will serve ...
Each year ECDPM publishes a Policy Brief, on Challenges for EU-Africa Relations, outlining key events and expected trends for the year to come. This year’s ‘Challenges Paper’ will aim in particular to cover the preparatory work for the EU-Africa Summit in 2014, and the major issues that will influence it or be addressed there, as well as the impact these issues might have on future EU-Africa relations. This article provides an initial indication of our plans for the paper that will be published at the end of year. If you have a different take on ...
