Work
02.September 2004 - 00:00
Achieving greater coherence in development cooperation(Council)
Korhola's question: Article III-218 of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe stipulates that ‘The Union shall take account of the objectives of development cooperation in the policies that it implements which are likely to affect developing countries’. The principle laid down in the Treaties is not yet reflected clearly enough in work at the practical level.
How will the Council coordinate decisions relating to commercial policy and development cooperation, to ensure that the coherence principle is taken genuinely into account in decision-making?
Reply
The Council would remind the Honourable Member that in the sphere of development cooperation, Article 178 of the EC Treaty stipulates that "The Community shall take account of the objectives referred to in Article 177 in the policies that it implements which are likely to affect developing countries".
The Council has repeatedly stressed the importance of the link between trade and development and the need for coherence between both policies. The Council and Commission statement on the European Community's development policy (1) of 10 November 2000 recognises that it is the task of the Community to ensure that development and trade and investment policies are complementary and mutually beneficial. It also highlights trade and development as one of the six priority areas of EC development activities contributing towards the overarching goal of reducing poverty.
In its conclusions of 30 May 2002 on the external dimension of the EU' sustainable development strategy and in preparation of the WSSD (2), the Council underlined the importance of improving coherence of EU policies through their adaptation to the internal and external objectives.
More recently, in its conclusions of 19 November 2002 on trade and development (3), the Council recognised the need for better integration of trade and development policies through the development of national poverty reduction strategies. It underlined that coherence is essential to ensure more effective poverty reduction. The Council invited the Commission and Member States to ensure that the commitments given in Doha, Monterrey, Rome and Johannesburg – including those related to consistency among the different EC policies – be translated into effective and tangible results to the benefit of developing countries, particularly the least developed countries.
There already exist important mechanisms and frameworks that do implement coherence between trade and development, such the Everything But Arms (EBA) initiative and the international commodity agreements (on tropical timber, coffee, cocoa, etc.), of which the EC and its Member States are leading members. The Council has recently approved two important instruments that will play a key role at the level of ensuring coherence between trade and development: the EU Action Plan on Agricultural Commodity Chain, Dependence and Poverty and the EU-Africa Partnership in support of cotton sector development. There are also ongoing negotiations to set up Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the ACP countries and regions and the EU. These Agreements will not only be trade arrangements but primarily development instruments. The Council invites the Honourable Member to contact the Commission for further information on this subject.
The EC and its Member States made a very positive and constructive contribution to the last UNCTAD session in Geneva in July 2004, where the Member States of UNCTAD agreed a declaration entitled "The Spirit of São Paulo" and a conference text, "The São Paulo Consensus". These indicate continued commitment to support UNCTAD in fulfilling its mandate as the focal point within the UN for the integrated treatment of trade and development. The importance of the UN reform and the need for UNCTAD to focus on results and to work in partnership, within its mandate, with other international organisations was recognised.
The issue of coherence was discussed by Development Ministers at their informal meeting on 26 and 27 October in Maastricht. The focus has been put on the implementation of policy coherence for development, e.g. on how the above-mentioned existing EU legislation and commitment can be translated into concrete actions and results on the ground. In addition, a link has been made with the MDG 5 stocktaking exercise in September 2005 and possible proposals for action by the EU in the area of policy coherence for development.
Finally, the Council will reconsider how to further improve coherence on the basis of a comprehensive report on the EU's trade-related assistance, to be presented by the Commission in 2005, which will include recommendations on further actions in the field of trade and development.
(1) 12929/00 PRESSE 421.
(2) 9458/02 DEVGEN 73 ENV 292 ONU 39 ECOFIN 198 SOC 283.
(3) 14514/02 DEVGEN 174 WTO 156.
Korhola's question: Article III-218 of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe stipulates that ‘The Union shall take account of the objectives of development cooperation in the policies that it implements which are likely to affect developing countries’. The principle laid down in the Treaties is not yet reflected clearly enough in work at the practical level.
How will the Council coordinate decisions relating to commercial policy and development cooperation, to ensure that the coherence principle is taken genuinely into account in decision-making?
Reply
The Council would remind the Honourable Member that in the sphere of development cooperation, Article 178 of the EC Treaty stipulates that "The Community shall take account of the objectives referred to in Article 177 in the policies that it implements which are likely to affect developing countries".
The Council has repeatedly stressed the importance of the link between trade and development and the need for coherence between both policies. The Council and Commission statement on the European Community's development policy (1) of 10 November 2000 recognises that it is the task of the Community to ensure that development and trade and investment policies are complementary and mutually beneficial. It also highlights trade and development as one of the six priority areas of EC development activities contributing towards the overarching goal of reducing poverty.
In its conclusions of 30 May 2002 on the external dimension of the EU' sustainable development strategy and in preparation of the WSSD (2), the Council underlined the importance of improving coherence of EU policies through their adaptation to the internal and external objectives.
More recently, in its conclusions of 19 November 2002 on trade and development (3), the Council recognised the need for better integration of trade and development policies through the development of national poverty reduction strategies. It underlined that coherence is essential to ensure more effective poverty reduction. The Council invited the Commission and Member States to ensure that the commitments given in Doha, Monterrey, Rome and Johannesburg – including those related to consistency among the different EC policies – be translated into effective and tangible results to the benefit of developing countries, particularly the least developed countries.
There already exist important mechanisms and frameworks that do implement coherence between trade and development, such the Everything But Arms (EBA) initiative and the international commodity agreements (on tropical timber, coffee, cocoa, etc.), of which the EC and its Member States are leading members. The Council has recently approved two important instruments that will play a key role at the level of ensuring coherence between trade and development: the EU Action Plan on Agricultural Commodity Chain, Dependence and Poverty and the EU-Africa Partnership in support of cotton sector development. There are also ongoing negotiations to set up Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the ACP countries and regions and the EU. These Agreements will not only be trade arrangements but primarily development instruments. The Council invites the Honourable Member to contact the Commission for further information on this subject.
The EC and its Member States made a very positive and constructive contribution to the last UNCTAD session in Geneva in July 2004, where the Member States of UNCTAD agreed a declaration entitled "The Spirit of São Paulo" and a conference text, "The São Paulo Consensus". These indicate continued commitment to support UNCTAD in fulfilling its mandate as the focal point within the UN for the integrated treatment of trade and development. The importance of the UN reform and the need for UNCTAD to focus on results and to work in partnership, within its mandate, with other international organisations was recognised.
The issue of coherence was discussed by Development Ministers at their informal meeting on 26 and 27 October in Maastricht. The focus has been put on the implementation of policy coherence for development, e.g. on how the above-mentioned existing EU legislation and commitment can be translated into concrete actions and results on the ground. In addition, a link has been made with the MDG 5 stocktaking exercise in September 2005 and possible proposals for action by the EU in the area of policy coherence for development.
Finally, the Council will reconsider how to further improve coherence on the basis of a comprehensive report on the EU's trade-related assistance, to be presented by the Commission in 2005, which will include recommendations on further actions in the field of trade and development.
(1) 12929/00 PRESSE 421.
(2) 9458/02 DEVGEN 73 ENV 292 ONU 39 ECOFIN 198 SOC 283.
(3) 14514/02 DEVGEN 174 WTO 156.