Politicising development aid is a recipe for failure
The EU’s development aid is in danger of being politicised, says Eurostep in response to calls for the EU’s development policy to be managed within the European diplomatic service that is to be created under the Lisbon Treaty. “These calls to bring development aid together with Europe’s foreign policy will inevitably lead to development becoming part of the EU’s foreign policy “said Simon Stocker, Director of Eurostep. “When aid is politicised in this way, which was the approach of the Bush administration, development fails.”
Development policy must remain sufficiently independent of the EU’s diplomatic service for it to be able to achieve its principal objective – the eradication of poverty. The management of the EU’s development policy must remain with the Commission, outside the new diplomatic service” continued Stocker.
Ireland’s “yes” on the Lisbon Treaty has unleashed a rush to define how the EU will organise and manage its relations with the rest of the world. Next week the European Parliament is expecting to adopt a report on the structure of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the formal title of Europe’s future diplomatic service, and EU leaders are also expected to make decisions when they meet on 29 October.
Perspectives
Asserting UN authority
by Martin Khor, executive director of the South Centre
This article was first published by Development & Cooperation
The United Nations summit on the economic crisis in New York in June was path breaking, even though it failed to take immediate measures to help developing countries cope with current economic turmoil. However, there was consensus on several important issues, and an open-ended working group involving all parties has been set up to draft reforms. This working group is to report to the next session of the General Assembly, which will begin in September next year.
New development committee, chair and members
The development committee of the European Parliament held its first meeting since the elections on Tuesday 21st July. The committee now has 30 MEPs, and is chaired by Eva Joly of the French Green Party, a first-time MEP famed for campaigning against government and big business corruption. The four vice-chairs are Michèle Striffler (France, EPP), Nirj Deva (UK, ECR), Iva Zanicchi (Italy, EPP) and Corina Creţu (Romania, S&D).
The committee’s discussion focused on the EU budget for next year, with many members expressing concern at cuts in development aid. The committee went on to discuss how climate change affects developing countries. Expertise on the latter was provided by a representative of Oxfam International, who presented the working document “Climate Change and Developing Countries”.
Ms Joly announced the establishment of a working group on food security, the presentation of a study on the consequences of the financial crisis for developing countries, and the creation of important delegations to attend the European Development Days in October in Sweden and the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen in December.
The next meeting of the committee will be on 2-3 September, and will focus on how the financial crisis has affected developing countries.
Sources:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/committees/homeCom.do?language=EN&body=DEVE
Crisis in Somalia
