EUROPE: ‘POLITICISING AID IS A RECIPE FOR FAILURE’
Jaya Ramachandran
BRUSSELS - The European Union’s development aid is in danger of being politicised, says Eurostep in response to calls for the 27-nation bloc's development policy to be managed within the European diplomatic service that is to be created under the Lisbon Treaty.
“These calls to bring development aid together with Europe’s foreign policy will inevitably lead to development becoming part of the EU’s foreign policy,“ said Simon Stocker, Director of Eurostep, a network of autonomous European non-governmental development organisations working towards peace, justice and equality in a world free of poverty.
“When aid is politicised in this way, which was the approach of the Bush administration, development fails,” warns Stocker.
“Development policy must remain sufficiently independent of the EU’s diplomatic service for it to be able to achieve its principal objective -- the eradication of poverty. The management of the EU’s development policy must remain with the Commission, outside the new diplomatic service,” continued Stocker.
Ireland’s “yes” on the Lisbon Treaty has unleashed a rush to define how the EU will organise and manage its relations with the rest of the world. The European Parliament is expecting to adopt a report in the week beginning Oct. 19 on the structure of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the formal title of Europe’s future diplomatic service, and EU leaders are also expected to make decisions when they meet on Oct. 29.
"It is critical that the EU’s development policy can be implemented according to its defined objectives," argues Eurostep.For this to be the case it will be necessary to ensure a single service for development in the Commission.
Currently the EU’s development cooperation with developing countries is managed by three principal Commission Directorates -- DG Development covering development policy and relations with countries from the Africa Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group; DG External Affairs responsible for cooperation with developing countries in Asia and Latin America, as well as those covered by the European Neighbourhood Partnership Instrument; and EuropeAid that is charged with implementation of the EU’s development assistance.
A single development service within the Commission is desirable, says a Eurostep briefing paper. "It needs to come under the responsibility of the Commissioner for Development, cover all developing countries, and be responsible for the whole programme cycle."
This is because the Treaty clearly makes development policy the principal framework for the EU’s cooperation with all developing countries, and it is important that the single service is given the capacity and status to pursue these interests.
Eurostep also calls for ensuring that a single Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Assistance has the ability to promote the interests of the EU’s development policy within the college of Commissioners, and towards the other EU institutions.
Further: The programming of the EU’s development assistance should be the clear responsibility of the Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Assistance. There should be effective mechanisms to link management of EU development cooperation and humanitarian assistance.
"While the specific roles of the two policies need to be respected, there is need of a clearly recognised mechanism for ensuring strategic planning from humanitarian phases to development (LRRD). The reforms of the institutional structures provide an opportunity for this to be addressed;" says Eurostep.
It pleads for separate budgets for development and humanitarian assistance. The responsibility for these should lie with the relevant Commission services. The financing of foreign policy activities of the EAS should be met from the provision of additional resources.
The briefing paper pleads for a direct link between single service and development staff in delegations, because with the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty the Commission’s delegations in third countries become EU delegations, with some consequence for their role.
"In developing countries development cooperation should remain the substantive part of a delegation’s activities. It is therefore important that the Commission’s development service has a direct influence on the appointment of delegation staff involved in development cooperation activities, and that they report directly to the development service with respect to these activities. The same is true for staff involved in the implementation of humanitarian assistance of the EU vis a vis the Commission’s service on humanitarian assistance;" Eurostep argues.
The implementation of the EU’s trade policies towards developing countries also needs to be related to these processes. There has been no suggestion that trade should be integrated into the EAS. It will undoubtedly remain a separate service within the Commission, but mechanisms for ensuring that these policies respect development policy objectives need to be explicitly identified.
Besides, all EU policies likely to affect developing countries should support development policy and its objectives. In establishing development policy and its objectives as the principal framework for the EU’s cooperation with all developing countries the Lisbon Treaty establishes a hierarchy in its policies towards cooperation with developing countries.
This implies that all EU policies that are likely to affect developing countries should support development policy and its objectives.
"In any reforms that are put in place it would be logical to establish clearly defined mechanisms to promote this. While this should be the responsibility of all institutional services responsible for external policies, the Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Assistance should have a particular responsibility for assuring this is implemented, with support from the Commission’s development service," says Eurostep director Stocker.
The Lisbon treaty will increase the role of the EP in the EU’s external policies and their implementation. In the short term it is important to ensure that this is reflected in any reforms of the Commission and the Council, he adds.
The Parliament’s Committee for Development should retain the lead role. There is also a need to ensure that the European Parliament develops its capacity to effectively scrutinise the EU’s country and regional strategies, say Eurostep. (By arrangement with IDN-InDepthNews) (END)
