The ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, and the arrival in Brussels of a new leadership team, together provide an opportunity to re-invigorate European collaboration and collective action in the realm of international development. This publication is the result of a collaboration between 25 researchers from four of Europe’s leading think-tanks on international development. It stems from a shared commitment to European development cooperation, and a sense of urgency about the need to rethink policy for new and challenging times. A new Europe, facing new challenges, will be tested in many fields and sectors. The authors assess the task of reaching the Millennium Development Goals, and rethinking the goals for the period beyond 2015. They make the case for joined-up thinking across the institutions and policies of the EU, emphasising the importance of Policy Coherence for Development. And they examine specific policy areas – trade, state/peace-building, climate change, migration, finance, and the private sector. They lay out an agenda for partnership with developing countries, and examine how actors in the EU system can work better together. The report makes the case for five priorities:

New EU leadership in thinking about how development cooperation can help deal with shared global problems.

EU states to meet their aid promises and improve the targeting and effectiveness of aid spending.

New efforts to ensure coherence between development and other policies.

Providing new life to development partnerships.

Improved cooperation between Member States, so that the EU really does work as one.

You can read the entire report here.
 
 

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We have finally arrived in Copenhagen – final stop after a long series of preparatory meetings. With the Kyoto Protocol expiring in 2012, delegates are tasked with drawing the lines of a new international agreement on climate. With these negotiations, our nations are engaging in one of the most complex and determinant exercises in collective action they have had to manage in the history of international relations.

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As I was jogging today, the image of Jacques Diouf fasting at the opening of the Rome Food Summit came to mind. I could not help but think about the thousands who die of hunger every day. The fresh air of the early morning acutely brought to my mind the huge number of global challenges facing us.

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Earlier this year I visited Nepal and Malawi, two of the poorest countries in the world. Both are already feeling the effects of climate change, with erratic weather patterns causing flooding and drought, making it harder to grow crops and access clean, safe water. The effects of climate change risk undoing the work that we have been doing for many years to try to improve the lives of the poorest people. Copenhagen is not a window of opportunity, it is a window of necessity to act on climate change. We must not waste it.

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Margot Wallström, Vice President of the European Commission in charge of Institutional Relations and Communication

With one eye on the UN Climate summit in Copenhagen in December, the European Development Days 2009 are a chance for us to demonstrate commitment to the challenges ahead: we have the common responsibility to prepare the global response to the economic crisis and climate change, as well as to lay the foundations for democracy and development. That's why I believe that we also have to use this forum to draw attention to a dimension of climate change which is often overlooked in the discussions on how to deal fairly with the effects of climate change: the fact that climate change increases social inequalities.

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The recent economic downturn has led to several voices round the world questioning the merits and effectiveness of capitalism as an economic system to promote the general welfare of human society.

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My colleagues are finalizing the preparations for a two-day brainstorming session on the future of European aid. It is a good occasion to open the floor to its participants (and beyond: as always anyone should feel free to join in!) to reflect on the way Europeans envisage their development policy: what is it for? How should we go about it? Here are a few initial thoughts.Europe is a giant of development assistance. Combining funds from member states and the Community, EU aid totaled 46 billion Euros in 2007, making it by far the largest contributor to this global endeavor. This amount equates to 93 Euros per capita, compared to 53 and 44 Euros per capita donated by the United States and Japan, respectively.

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During the past two months we have seen Governments commit more than USD 3000 billion towards stabilizing financial markets. A further USD 2000 billion have already been announced for economic stimulus packages. Never in the history of humankind has so much money been allocated with so little preparation and strategic analyses

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Demographic growth, industrialisation and the increase of demand resulting from higher living standards is exerting growing pressure on the world's natural resources. The effects of climate change are also showing their first impacts on some of the regions of the world that are least equipped to manage them. How can these pressures be handled on the long run? What role can public policies play to tackle this rising challenge?

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Over the last 18 months or so there has been a major surge in the spread of public understanding on the subject of climate change, particularly in respect of human actions being a cause for changes in the earth's climate system. However, this increase in awareness has not yet translated into action at the global level to bring about a reduction in the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), the increased concentration of which has now increasingly affected the earth's climate. The impacts of climate change are particularly harmful for some of the poorest societies on earth.

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