EUROPEAN UNION: Reform Takes Centre Stage at Development Council

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Brian Kenety

BRUSSELS, May 19 2000 (IPS) - Development ministers from the 15 European Union (EU) member states, met here Thursday to debate a series of proposals that could fundamentally change the way the grouping responds to humanitarian crises and conflict situations in developing countries.

The Development Council, as the meeting is known, discussed the way in which the instruments and capacities of the Union and its member states could be better used in ’emergency’, ‘rehabilitation’, ‘development’ and ‘unstable’ situations.

Luis Amado, the Portuguese State Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation, who acted as president of the Council, told reporters Thursday evening that Africa was at the top of the meeting’s agenda.

The number of conflicts in the continent has steadily risen in recent years, and “that is why we must approach development in Africa with another (approach) and with other instruments and mechanisms,” he said. “We (the EU) don’t have a clear framework” to deal with crisis situations, said Amado.

The Council debated a 53-point Action Plan which would create a single body to handle the task, but took no decision.

The new entity, tentatively named Euraid, would group all relevant development co-operation and humanitarian aid services under a single EU Commissioner – a demand of the Liaison Committee of Development NGOs to the EU (Clong) at the time the current Commission under Romano Prodi came into being.

The idea for the new body, adopted by the EU executive Commission on Tuesday, was put forth by Chris Patten, the EU’s external relations commissioner, who has said that up to two-thirds of the grouping’s international aid programme would have to be cut back unless member states and the European Parliament agreed to his reforms.

Clong has welcomed the proposal – generally well received by ministers Thursday but not voted upon – that would decentralise decision-making and administration and in doing so reinforce the authority and flexibility of EU Delegations in aid administration.

Problems with EU external aid programmes – widespread delays in delivery, abandoned projects, staff shortages, infighting between Commission departments and an increasingly large gap between the allocation and disbursement of funding – were the impetus for the Action Plan.

A meeting of more than 80 representatives of European non- governmental organisations (NGOs) and other international bodies, which met May 17-18 to discuss disaster preparedness and the EU approach to it, stress the need to improve links between emergency and development aid.

The Commission’s approach, they said in a joint statement Thursday, lacks coherence and clarity. “There is an urgent need for policy development in this area, and for this to remain independent from foreign policy considerations, for a clear focal point within the Commission and for better co-ordination with the Commission services (and with EU) member states.”

Humanitarian NGOs are the Commission’s main partner for the delivery of such aid, implementing about 80 percent of the projects in this domain, according to Clong.

“NGOs recognise the need to increase the effectiveness of EU humanitarian aid activities, and support, in principle, changes in structures or procedures that can achieve this,” Clong said.

On Apr. 26, the Commission adopted a resolution that placed poverty eradication as its over-arching objective with an emphasis on the importanceof policy coherence in achieving this goal.

However, of the various ‘sub-items’ on the agenda Thursday, draft conclusions on operational co-operation between the EU and its member states proved a sticking point, even though concrete proposals were not on the table.

The Development Council adopted several other resolutions, including support for economic reform programmes and structural adjustment in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries and southern and eastern Mediterranean states; procedural conclusions on integrating the environment and sustainable development into EU development policy; and the need to recognise the importance of health in economic and social development.

The war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the effectiveness of emergency assistance in such a prolonged crisis situation, and the role of development assistance in promoting stability and the rule of law in Zimbabwe were also discussed.

Poul Nielson, EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, told the news conference that while the importance of ‘ownership’ of development policies is often recognised, “there can be no doubt about the ‘ownership’ in conflict. It is not easy (for the EU) as outsiders to deliver aid.”

He said that ministers discussed the need to continue to “do something for the civil society, even in circumstances where there is no government, like in Somalia.”

Nielson also stressed that cancellation of unsustainable debt for the world’s least developed countries (LDCs), “is the biggest show in town, as far as conflict prevention is concerned.”

The Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and ‘enhanced HIPC’ initiatives of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), under which such debt would be written off by donor countries, “should be seen also as a conflict prevention measure,” he said.