Africa presides
Africa, more efficient aid spending, a focus on ‘fragile’ States and a push to wind up the Economic Partnership Agreements with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions, are the main features of the current and two subsequent European Union’s (EU) Presidencies.
Official Development Assistance (ODA) targets. OECD Paris 2006. Report on Development Cooperation, statistics updated January 19th 2007.
The pooling of the aims of three Presidencies; Germany, January – June 2007, www.eu2007.de, Portugal taking over July – December 2007, followed by Slovenia, January to June 2008, is enabled by a 2006 change in EU rules on a streamlining of proposals for three consecutive presidencies. It will give a greater chance to follow through policies.
On Africa, a joint Presidency paper calls for “broadened, deepened and strengthened political dialogue with African partners”, moving ahead with EU “strategies” on governance, infrastructure and water.
The trio of Presidencies agreed to press for an increase in Official Development Assistance (ODA) EU-wide. A German Presidency spokesperson said the aim was for the 27 States to jointly reach a target to earmark 0.56% of their Gross National Income (GNI) to development collectively by 2010 with the ‘old’ EU Member States achieving an average of 0.51% and the ‘new’ Member States, with less of a ‘development tradition’, pledging an average of 0.17% average by this date. This figure takes into account that some Member States already exceed this target, whereas others lag (see graph of Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development – OECD).
Speeding up aid effectiveness targeting a “more efficient division of labour in the EU”, increased use of renewable energy, the effects of climate change on developing nations and better natural resource management are priorities too for all three countries, says the paper.
Germany aims to address the drastic consequences of high energy prices on developing countries which threaten “achievements of the EU’s development aid transparency and good governance”, and also look at the “development aspects of the European Partnership Agreements”.
From July 2007, the Portuguese Presidency wants to focus, too, on “new complementary approaches in fragile States” and wants the EU to get to grips with “the prevention of State failure and fragility, encompassing existing instruments and policy areas such as governance and security and development”. Migration and development is another issue including “the overall effective management of migration flows, covering its multidimensional nature – international, regional and national – and to maximise the potential development benefits of migration”.
When Slovenia has its turn in the EU hot seat at the beginning of 2008, it wants the EU to be more attentive to the effects of armed conflict on children and women, calling for the protection of children and women affected by conflict to become part of EU development policy and programmes.
