33 European Community Development Policy
and Assistance
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11421/05
+ ADD1
COM (05) 292
| Annual Report 2005 from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on EC's Development Policy and the implementation of External Assistance in 2004
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| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 15 July 2005
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| Deposited in Parliament | 25 July 2005
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| Department | International Development
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 5 October 2005
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | November GAERC
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared, but further information requested
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Background
33.1 EU Member States collectively are the world's largest donor,
providing more than half of all global development assistance.
The Commission manages 20% of Official Development Assistance
delivered by the EU — over €6.9 billion in 2004. The
geographical span is global — from the EU's immediate neighbours
to small Pacific islands. "The main objective for Community
development policy must be to reduce and eventually eradicate
poverty".[99] Within
that guiding objective, the Commission's key objectives for 2004
included:
- follow-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD),
particularly through the EU initiatives for Water and for Energy;
- successful completion of the Doha round and other important
trade negotiations, including with South East Asia and Latin America;
- implementation and revision of the Cotonou Agreement
with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries;
- progress with implementing the debt initiative,
and with measures in the global fight against communicable diseases
in developing countries; and
- preparation for the UN Millennium Review Summit
in New York in September 2005.
The Commission Report
33.2 This fifth Annual Report on development policy
and external assistance presents the key features of policy initiatives
and activities in 2004. It is aimed at a wide audience —
European and Member State institutions, civil society and the
general public, which latter it notes (on the basis of a 2004
Eurobarometer survey) "expect the European Union to play
a central role in development" — and consists of a
short executive summary that draws on an 175 page annex. It is
helpfully summarised by the Secretary of State for International
Development (Mr Hilary Benn) in his 5 October Explanatory Memorandum.
Beginning with the executive summary, he says:
- "It seeks to outline the
broad context and objectives of EC assistance, in terms of the
"political dimension", achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals[100]
(MDGs), and partnerships, and to report on action taken to meet
these objectives. It discusses management issues, and includes
a section on results obtained. It focuses on improvements in the
speed of commitments and disbursements, and on project-level results.
It also makes the case for a new Development Policy, mentions
areas in which programming improvements can be made, and stresses
the need for better donor harmonisation.
- "The main Report begins with a discussion
of the Strategic Framework for development policy. This recalls
that the MDGs are at the centre of development policy, whilst
emphasising the need to adapt to the diversity of contexts in
which the EC is working, particularly pre-accession countries.
After outlining the emphasis which the EC's 2004 Annual Policy
Strategy put on sustainable development, the Report discusses
the link between development policy and the MDGs. It mentions
the use of 10 selected MDG indicators for assessing progress,
and discusses the problems in using these directly to inform programming.
The Report then describes some of the main actions taken in each
of the six "focal sectors" identified in the 2000 Development
Policy Statement (DPS) (trade; regional integration; macro-economic
policies and social services; transport and energy; rural development;
and institutional capacity building). The Report goes on to draw
some lessons on implementation of the DPS. It identifies that
the DPS has been a useful reference point in the EC's discussions,
policies and programmes, but identifies ways in which it has been
difficult to implement. It signals a revision of the DPS, and
also a new set of instruments in the 2007-13 Financial Perspectives.
- "Section 2 of the report describes in some
detail each of the geographical programmes: the Balkans; Eastern
Europe and Central Asia; Southern Mediterranean and the Middle
East; Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific; Asia and Latin America.
Each region is presented according to the same format, including
a description of some of the main activities, a commentary on
the EC's contribution to poverty reduction and the MDGs, an overview
of co-operation with other donors, and an overview of Results-Oriented
Monitoring (ROM). This is followed in Section 3 by a description
of the main activities and mechanisms regarding thematic and cross-cutting
issues, including human rights, migration and asylum, natural
resources, gender equality, good governance, drugs, children and
partnership with non-governmental organisations.
- This year's report includes two "feature
articles", on budget support and on human security. These
chapters discuss the EC's objectives and approach in these two
areas and describe innovations which it has introduced.
- "Finally, the Report discusses EC aid management
issues. This includes information on the effect of enlargement,
the reform of external assistance, clearing of payment arrears
("reste à liquider"), quality improvement
including various aid modalities, and progress on the "3Cs"
(coherence, complementarity and coordination). It concludes with
an overview of evaluations which took place in 2004 and lessons
learnt. In particular it sets out the results of ROM, showing
that for all indicators across all sectors the average score was
better than the 'on track' score".
The Government's view
33.3 The Secretary of State says:
- "The Report is increasingly
recognised as the main tool for accountability to the public,
Member States and their Parliaments, and the European Parliament
on the Commission's external assistance. This Report reflects
many of the concerns and suggestions expressed by Member States
in earlier years.
- "The Council is scheduled to adopt Conclusions
on the Report at the November GAERC. As Presidency we chaired
a first discussion on this subject on 8 and 21 September in which
several Member States noted with satisfaction that the Report
represents an improvement compared to earlier years: in particular
it establishes the MDGs and the reduction of poverty as central
to the Community's external assistance and shows how the Commission
is making important efforts to further these aims; and it gives
several indications that Community aid is improving and that aspects
of quality and results are becoming more important. But they also
noted that parts of the Report are still too descriptive and input-oriented.
- "The Council is likely to conclude that
the Commission has made a serious effort to couch the Report within
the strategic framework of its overall priorities and external
policies, including the link to the Commission's Annual Policy
Strategy (APS). However, the Report fails to offer an explicit
analysis of how far Community assistance has really supported
APS objectives, and how these and other overall priorities are
articulated and assessed within the specific thematic and geographical
programmes.
- "Member States have also called for a more
thorough discussion of the effectiveness of the Community's role
in middle income countries, and its success in reducing poverty
in them.
- "Member States have welcomed the fact that
the Report reflects the centrality of the MDGs in the EC's external
assistance. It contains many examples of the relevance of its
activities to the MDGs, both in terms of its focal sectors and
geographical programmes. However, whilst the Report explains that
the Commission now uses 10 MDG-related indicators to assess the
performance of partner countries and regions, it does not contain
a systematic overview of this performance, or how this affects
programming of Community aid. The Council is likely to call upon
the Commission to demonstrate how it uses these indicators alongside
its own performance indicators, and also to illustrate its contribution,
as part of the international community, in helping to achieve
them.
- "Member States are likely to note with concern
the fact that the Report shows that the proportion of EC assistance
going to low income countries declined to below 44% in 2004, after
increases in previous years. Whilst there is no indication that
this represents a negative trend, the Council is likely to ask
the Commission to ensure that the low income focus should continue
to increase.
- "Member States also found the Report's focus
on results, evaluation and lesson learning encouraging and may
invite the Commission to build on these during programming of
future aid. Scores from its externally evaluated Results-Oriented
Management (ROM) system suggest that the Commission's programmes
are achieving satisfactory results and are gradually improving,
most likely as a result of management reforms. Main conclusions
of major evaluations also show some progress, and provide useful
lessons for the future.
- "The EC's management reforms are only discussed
briefly in the Report, as they are subject of a separate assessment.[101]
The references made in the Report suggest that reforms are gradually
leading to improvements in both efficiency and quality.
- "Another important aspect of this year's
Report is the EC's collaboration with other donors, and its efforts
to improve aid effectiveness both generally and in different regions.
Member States may suggest that next year's Report takes this analysis
further, particularly in reference to the 2005 Paris Declaration
on Aid Effectiveness, and how the EC is implementing it.
- The Commission responded to the request for a
short document for wider public consumption by preparing the short
Executive Summary. This is to be welcomed. We expect the Council
to ask for future Summaries to focus more clearly on the links
between objectives and results, to better explain how the Community
implements its Development Policy and contributes towards combating
global poverty, and to focus less on inputs and administrative
processes".
Conclusion
33.4 The numbers continue to speak for themselves:
€6.9 billion compared to €5.8 billion disbursed in 2003,
itself then a record level. The Minister notes a number of positive
developments. But further progress is still required on the question
of effectiveness.
33.5 Though now further reduced to 175 pages, the
report continues to be too detailed for all but the most dedicated
and persevering. It is gratifying that, at least in part, the
Commission has responded to the hope of our predecessors regarding
the previous report, viz., to produce "at least a digest
that will explain clearly what it is that they have funded and
how effectively their money has been spent in pursuit of the objectives".
The executive summary is clearly a step in the right direction;
but, as the Secretary of State notes, it needs to focus more on
outcomes and effectiveness and less on inputs and processes.
33.6 A year ago, the aim at the November "development"
GAERC meeting was "to press the new leadership for a more
analytical, less descriptive report focusing on results, impacts
and on the EC's most strategic development objectives".
So far, so good: but the report is "still too descriptive
and inputs-oriented". However, the report can only contain
what the Commission knows: to say more on outcomes and effectiveness
first requires systems that provide the information. That it does
not yet do so reflects the extent to which welcome positive developments
since the Commission's management reforms of 2000 (aspects of
which we examine elsewhere in this Report) need to be taken yet
further forward. That the Commission is proposing a new Development
Policy Statement — which we also consider elsewhere in this
Report, and which we have recommended for debate in European Standing
Committee B — makes sustaining efforts towards these ends
all the more important.
33.7 The Secretary of State highlights a number of
areas upon which he expects Member States to concentrate at this
November's "development" GAERC. We hope that the Council
Conclusions will address these issues robustly and commit the
Commission to clear targets against which performance can be measured
in a year's time. We would accordingly appreciate a further report
from him, after the Council has reached its Conclusions. In the
meantime, we clear the report, which we consider to be relevant
to any debate on EU development assistance.
99 COM(2005) 292 page 3. Back
100
The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are: (1) eradicate
extreme poverty and hunger, (2) achieve universal primary education,
(3) promote gender equality and empower women, (4) reduce the
mortality rate of children, (5) improve maternal health, (6) combat
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, (7) ensure environmental
sustainability, (8) develop a global partnership for development. Back
101
11169/05 SEC(2005) 963, which we consider elsewhere in this Report.
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