EU Development Policy - An Overview

The EU's development co-operation is framed by EU development policy, which has expanded in a somewhat ad hoc fashion over the years. Following the original commitment in the EU Treaties, development initially found its policy framework in November 2000. Below we give a brief overview of the main characteristics of current EU Development Policy, the so-called European Consensus on Development, and of the process that led up to this document.

EU Aid or EC Aid?

The term "EU aid" normally includes the following types of aid:

Bilateral aid carried out by the Member States
Aid channelled through and managed by the European Commission.

The term "EC aid" or "European Community Aid" normally refers only to the latter i.e. aid managed by the European Commission, and excludes bilateral aid from individual Member States.

EC Aid Structures

Development co-operation currently comes under the governance of two separate departments: the Directorate General for External Relations and the Directorate General for Development. These two departments then feed into the implementing office, EuropeAid.

DG Development deals with the programming, policy and strategies phase of the project cycle for ACP countries.

DG External Relations (also known as DG Relex) deals with the programming, policy and strategies phase of the project cycle for non-ACP countries.

The EuropeAid Co-operation Office is the implementing agency for the European Commission. The office is responsible for all phases of the project cycle not dealt with by DG Dev and DG Relex, including evaluation.

Political responsibility for the activities of the Office lies with the Chairman and the Chief Executive, based on their respective roles within the College of Commissioners.

The Four C's

The principles that guide EU development implementation, as specified in the Treaties, are:

Complementarity of programmes implemented by Member States and by the European Commission;
Co-ordination between Member States and the European Commission on Development;
Coherence between EU policies with development objectives;
Consistency of all external activities of the EU.

Joint Declaration on the European Community's Development Policy

At the Development Council meeting on 10 November 2000, the Commission and Council adopted a joint Declaration on the European Community's Development Policy. For the first time poverty eradication was established as the central objective of EC development programmes, as well as of other EC programmes in developing countries.

"The principal aim of the Community's development policy is to reduce poverty with a view to its eventual eradication......".

It also identified six priority areas (though the EC plans to be a leading donor in only one or two areas in each country):

Link between trade and development
Regional integration and co-operation
Support for macroeconomic policies and the promotion of equitable access to social services
Transport
Food security and sustainable rural development
Institutional capacity-building.

In addition, the following cross-cutting areas are to be mainstreamed in all aid programming: Human Rights; gender; the environment; good governance, conflict prevention and crisis management.

The declaration states: "...the least developed countries and low-income countries will be given priority, in an approach which will take account of their efforts to reduce poverty, their needs, their performance and their capacity to absorb aid.....To ensure consistency, the objectives of Community development policy will be taken into greater account in the conduct of other common policies."

For the full text of the declaration see the DG Development website.

Review of the European Community's Development Policy

From the beginning of his mandate, the new Commissioner for International Development Louis Michel was very keen to review the Development Policy Statement (DPS) that should guide EC development co-operation from 2006 onwards.

This review intervened at a crucial moment, when the EU was negotiating the overall budget, including development expenditure, for the period 2007-2013 (the "Financial perspectives"). In 2005, the EU also prepared for the Millennium Declaration stocktaking exercise that will took place in New York.

The key stages in the formulation of the new policy were as follows:

DG Development commissioned a study to assess the joint development policy statement of November 2000. The final report, 'Assessment of the EC Development Policy' was published in January 2005.

European NGOs submitted a joint contribution on EC Development Policy through CONCORD, the European NGO Confederation for Relief and Development.

All this activity finally resulted in the current European Policy document described below.

Current European Development Policy: the 'European Consensus on Development'

The European Consensus on Development sets out, for the first time in 50 years, a common vision for development to guide both Member States' bilateral efforts and EU activity in the field of development aid. The Consensus was endorsed by 25 Heads of State and the European Commission in December 2005.

Since the Consensus is both a European Community and a Member State responsibility, both can be held to account for the commitments contained in it.

What does the Consensus Prioritise?

The eradication of poverty
Least developed countries, with a special focus on Africa
More effective delivery of aid
Better coherence among EU policies
Areas of EC comparative advantage

Please see here for the full European Consensus document.