Annexes to COM(2011)637 - Increasing the impact of EU Development Policy: an Agenda for Change - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2011)637 - Increasing the impact of EU Development Policy: an Agenda for Change. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2011)637  |
| date | October 13, 2011 |
3.3. Sustainable agriculture and energy
The EU should use its support in agriculture and energy to help insulate developing countries from shocks (such as scarcity of resources and supply, price volatility) and thus help provide the foundations for sustainable growth. It should tackle inequalities, in particular to give poor people better access to land, food, water and energy without harming the environment.
In agriculture, the EU should support sustainable practices, including the safeguarding of ecosystem services, giving priority to locally-developed practices and focusing on smallholder agriculture and rural livelihoods, formation of producer groups, the supply and marketing chain, and government efforts to facilitate responsible private investment. The EU will continue working on strengthening nutritional standards, food security governance and reducing food price volatility at international level.
In energy, the EU should offer technology and expertise as well as development funding, and should focus on three main challenges: price volatility and energy security; climate change, including access to low carbon technologies; and access to secure, affordable, clean and sustainable energy services[8].
In both sectors, the EU should support capacity development and technology transfer, including in climate adaptation and mitigation strategies.
The EU is looking for long-term partnerships with developing countries, based on mutual accountability.
4. Differentiated development partnerships
The EU must seek to target its resources where they are needed most to address poverty reduction and where they could have greatest impact.
Grant-based aid should not feature in geographic cooperation with more advanced developing countries already on sustained growth paths and/or able to generate enough own resources. Conversely, many other countries remain heavily reliant on external support to provide basic services to their people. In between, there is a spectrum of situations requiring different policy mixes and cooperation arrangements. A differentiated EU approach to aid allocation and partnerships is therefore key to achieving maximum impact and value for money.
The EU should continue to recognise the particular importance of supporting development in its own neighbourhood[9] and in Sub-Saharan Africa[10]. It should, in all regions, allocate more funds than in the past to the countries most in need, including fragile states.
More precisely, EU development assistance should be allocated according to:
– Country needs: assessed using several indicators, taking into account, inter alia, economic and social/human development trends and the growth path as well as vulnerability and fragility indicators.
– Capacities: assessed according to a country’s ability to generate sufficient financial resources, notably domestic resources, and its access to other sources of finance such as international markets, private investment or natural resources. Absorption capacities should also be considered.
– Country commitments and performance: positive account should be taken of a country’s investment in education, health and social protection, its progress on the environment, democracy and good governance, and the soundness of its economic and fiscal policies, including financial management.
– Potential EU impact: assessed through two cross-cutting objectives:
(1) Increasing the extent to which EU cooperation could promote and support political, economic, social and environmental policy reforms in partner countries;
(2) Increasing the leveraging effect that EU aid could have on other sources of finance for development, in particular private investment.
Through comprehensive political and policy dialogue with all partner countries, the EU should define the most appropriate form of cooperation, leading to informed and objective decisions on the most effective policy mix, aid levels, aid arrangements and the use of new and existing financial tools, and building on the EU's own experience in managing transition.
For some countries this may result in less or no EU development grant aid and the pursuit of a different development relationship based on loans, technical cooperation or support for trilateral cooperation.
In situations of fragility, specific forms of support should be defined to enable recovery and resilience, notably through close coordination with the international community and proper articulation with humanitarian activities. The aim should be to maximise national ownership both at state and local levels so as to secure stability and meet basic needs in the short term, while at the same time strengthening governance, capacity and economic growth, keeping state-building as a central element.
This process of country-based decision-making would give the EU the flexibility to respond to unexpected events, notably natural or man-made disasters.
5. Coordinated EU action
Fragmentation and proliferation of aid is still widespread and even increasing, despite considerable recent efforts to coordinate and harmonise donor activities. The EU must take a more active leadership role, as mandated by the Lisbon Treaty, and put forward proposals to make European aid more effective.
Joint programming of EU and Member States’ aid would reduce fragmentation and increase its impact proportionally to commitment levels. The aim is for a simplified and faster programming process, to be largely carried out on the ground.
Where the partner country has formulated its own strategy, the EU should support it by developing, wherever possible, joint multi-annual programming documents with the Member States. Where the partner country has not done so, the EU will endeavour to develop a joint strategy with the Member States.
This process would result in a single joint programming document which should indicate the sectoral division of labour and financial allocations per sector and donor. The EU and Member States should follow the document when devising their bilateral implementation plans. Participation should be open to non-EU donors committed to the process in a given country.
To boost country ownership, joint programming should be synchronised with the strategy cycles of partner countries where possible.
Operationally, the EU and Member States should make use of aid modalities that facilitate joint action such as budget support (under a ‘single EU contract’), EU trust funds and delegated cooperation.
On cross-country division of labour, the Commission encourages all Member States to be more transparent when entering or exiting, in line with the EU Code of Conduct on Division of Labour[11]. A coordinated approach is needed, including a coordination mechanism for cross-country division of labour.
The EU should develop a common framework for measuring and communicating the results of development policy, including for inclusive and sustainable growth. In line with the Operational Framework on Aid Effectiveness[12], the EU will work with partner countries and other donors on comprehensive approaches to domestic and mutual accountability and transparency, including through the building of statistical capacity.
Transparency is a cornerstone of effective and accountable aid. The Commission, which has adopted the International Aid Transparency Initiative standard, is already one of the most transparent donors. It should continue this effort, along with Member States.
6. Improved coherence among EU policies
The EU is at the forefront of the Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) agenda and will continue to evaluate the impact of its policies on development objectives. It will strengthen its country-level dialogue on PCD and continue to promote PCD in global fora to help shape an environment that supports the poorest countries’ efforts.
The future MFF should reinforce PCD. Thematic programmes are envisaged as instruments to tackle global concerns and will both project EU policies into development cooperation and help eradicate poverty.
The EU must intensify its joined-up approach to security and poverty, where necessary adapting its legal bases and procedures. The EU's development, foreign and security policy initiatives should be linked so as to create a more coherent approach to peace, state-building, poverty reduction and the underlying causes of conflict. The EU aims to ensure a smooth transition from humanitarian aid and crisis response to long-term development cooperation.
In terms of the development-migration nexus, the EU should assist developing countries in strengthening their policies, capacities and activities in the area of migration and mobility, with a view to maximising the development impact of the increased regional and global mobility of people.
7. Embracing the Agenda for Change
The Commission calls on the Council to endorse the proposed Agenda for Change which seeks to:
– equip the EU with high-impact development policy and practice for the coming decade and give it a leading role in setting a comprehensive international development agenda up to and beyond 2015;
– support the change needed in partner countries to bring about faster progress towards poverty reduction and the MDGs.
The Commission services and EEAS will ensure that the guiding principles set out in this Communication are progressively reflected during the remainder of the current programming cycle and in future programming documents, as well as in the proposals regarding the architecture, legislation and programming of future financial instruments for external action.
Member States are urged to also implement the Agenda.
[1] COM(2010) 629 - http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/how/public-consultations/5241_en.htm
[2] 2006/C 46/01.
[3] COM(2011) 638.
[4] SEC(2010) 265 final.
[5] http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/who/partners/civil-society/structured-dialogue_en.htm
[6] Council Conclusions 14919/07 and 15118/07.
[7] COM(2011) 363 final.
[8] Taking account of ongoing initiatives such as the UN High Level Group on Sustainable Energy for all.
[9] COM(2011) 303.
[10] Including through the Joint Africa-EU Strategy.
[11] 9558/07.
[12] 18239/10.