7 Beyond 2015: towards a comprehensive
and integrated approach to financing poverty eradication and sustainable
development~
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12434/13
COM(13) 531
(35255)
12440/13
+ ADDs 1-3
SWD(13) 273
| Commission Communication: "Beyond 2015 — towards a comprehensive and integrated approach to financing poverty eradication and sustainable development"
Commission Staff Working Paper: "EU Accountability Report 2013 on Financing for Development. Review of progress by the EU and its Member States: accompanying the Communication"
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| Legal base | —
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| Departments | International Development;
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs;
Energy and Climate Change
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| Basis of consideration | Ministers' letter dated 16 July 2013
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| Previous Committee Report | None; but see (34747) 7075/13 at chapter ?? of this Report
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| Discussion in Council | December 2013
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information requested; relevant to the debate in European Committee B on Commission Communication 7075/13
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Background
7.1 An earlier Commission Communication — "A decent
life for all: ending poverty and giving the world a sustainable
future"—
set out the Commission's
view on the international post-2015 development agenda: ending
poverty and ensuring that future prosperity and well-being are
sustainable. It brings together the debate about what international
framework should succeed the MDGs and the process to establish
new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) arising from the Rio+20
— where government leaders agreed that the new SDGs should
be coherent and integrated with the post-2015 development agenda.
It proposes that the EU works towards a single overarching framework
and integration of the MDG review and SDG process. It sets out
five "priority elements" for that single framework —
meeting basic living standards, promoting drivers for inclusive
and sustainable growth, ensuring sustainable management of natural
resources, upholding equality, equity and justice, and peace and
security — and a set of guiding principles.
7.2 That Commission Communication is dealt with
elsewhere in this Report. There, the Parliamentary Under-Secretaries
of State at the Departments for International Development (Lynne
Featherstone) and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Richard
Benyon) have told us that, contrary to our expectation when it
was published in the spring:
"the Commission is not intending to put forward
a further Communication on the overarching post-2015 agenda this
year but a specific Communication on the post-2015 development
finance is anticipated soon, with Council Conclusions due to follow
in the autumn. We expect these to be informative to both the
Development and Environment agendas."
7.3 The Ministers also say that they "hope to
keep the Committees apprised of progress on this agenda over the
coming months and would welcome the opportunity to debate the
issue in the House at the Committee's request." We have
recommended a debate in European Committee in the relevant chapter
of our Report.[22]
The Commission Communication and Commission Staff
Working Paper
7.4 This Communication sets out the Commission's
perspectives on financing the post-2015 development framework.
It begins with an analysis of the current and future financing
for development landscapes and examines the ways in which the
sources of financing for developing countries are changing. It
also acknowledges the processes to mobilise resources in other
areas including climate change and biodiversity with a view to
framing a coherent position. It then sets-out some guiding principles
for a comprehensive EU approach to post-2015 development financing,
with a view to integrating the "financing for development"
and the "sustainable development" financing agendas.
7.5 The Communication draws on the accompanying Commission
Staff Working Paper, the 2013 EU Accountability Report on Financing
for Development, which provides a detailed anaysis of Member State
performance against existing EU commitments on financing for development,
including aid levels, aid effectiveness and fast-start climate
finance as well as other areas. The Report is based on information
submitted directly by Member States.
The Government's view
7.6 In their joint Explanatory Memorandum of 5 September
2013, the Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State at the Departments
for International Development (Lynne Featherstone) and Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs (Richard Benyon), and the Minister of State
at the Department for Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker),
note that although it is based on recent discussions in the EU,
and informed by this year's EU Accountability Report on Financing
for Development, Member States were not formally consulted on
the text during preparation of this Communication and that "it
is not an articulation of agreed EU policy." However, they
say:
—
it will set the tone for this year's Council Conclusions on EU
post-2015 development financing which will be negotiated by Council
working groups during the autumn;
— in the Conclusions, the Council will
choose how to respond to the views expressed by the Commission
in the Communication;
— the UK's input to this response will
reflect cross-HMG views and will be in line with the position
set out below;
— the Government is in regular dialogue
with civil society organisations and business on the post-2015
development framework; and
— they will "remain closely engaged
with the EU Presidency and other member States as work proceeds
on drafting the Council Conclusions this autumn".
7.7 The Ministers then comment as follows (their
emphasis):
"We are supportive of the Communication,
which is broadly in-line with established HMG positions. The Communication
provides a very good analytical basis, and lays the groundwork
well for more specific policy development. We welcome the fact
the communication was developed jointly by the Commission's Directorates'
for Development, Environment and Climate. We believe this is important
given the need for a post-2015 development agenda that integrates
(without seeking to artificially combine) the financing for development
and sustainable development agendas. We will continue to
work closely with the Commission to ensure that any future EU
policy reflects the right balance on these two strands. The Council
Conclusions adopted at the EU General Affairs Council in June
2013 set out the EU's high level position on the post-2015 development
framework.
"We welcome the emphasis in the report of the
importance of more effective development co-operation; in particular
the recognition of the role the Global Partnership for Effective
Development Co-operation (GPEDC) has to play. We are also pleased
that the importance — and growing relevance — of private
sector and domestic financial contributions are well recognised
in the Communication as well as new and innovative sources of
finance. This is very much in line with our own thinking and
its importance is underlined in the Communication, which shows
that financing from the private sector now accounts for, on average,
around 50% of total available financing available to developing
countries.
"We think the Communication usefully recognises
that non-finance based Means of Implementation will need to go
hand in hand with finance in the post-2015 financing landscape
and we will want to build on this further in the Council Conclusions.
This includes activities such as the creation of an enabling environment,
policy reform, as well as gaining a greater understanding of the
role of social and natural capital. It also recognises that by
tackling illicit flows such as tax evasion, removing harmful incentives
such as fossil fuel subsidies and developing synergies between
funding streams, overall costs can be reduced.
"We believe the Principles section usefully
highlights the key elements that could for the basis of a future
EU approach to financing for development. In particular, we welcome:
a. "The recognition that all countries should
contribute their fair share — and that
"Upper Middle Income Countries could shoulder
more responsibility.
b. "That the importance of mutual accountability
and the Busan principles are underlined.
c. "The emphasis on different levels of
delivery (both national and international) — which implicitly
recognises that accountability lies in the first instance between
a government and its people.
d. "The recognition of the need to modernise
the ODA definition.
e. "That the importance of finance supporting
synergies between goals which will help underpin delivery of an
ambitious post-2015 development framework is recognised.
"We also welcome this year's EU Accountability
Report on financing for development, on which the Communication
draws. The Report provides an important mechnaism for publicly
holding EU donors to account for meeting their aid commitments
— and provides the UK with an opportunity to push others
on their ODA levels. We agree with the main conclusions of this
year's report, which notes; the substantial progress on
EU commitments concerning private investment, trade, finance relating
to climate change adaptation and mitigation, science technology
and innovation, and innovative financing sources and instruments;
the moderate progress on EU commitments concerning domestic
resource mobilisation, debt sustainability, remittances, biodiversity
protection and development effectiveness; and limited or no
progress on overall EU commitments concerning volumes of Official
Development Assistance (ODA).
"Whilst the Report is positive about the UK's
development financing outlook, and usefully recognises our commitment
to the 0.7 target, it is disappointing that the Report noted an
overall decline in EU ODA levels. Aggregate EU ODA fell from
€56.3 billion (£49.2 billion) (0.45% of GNI) in 2011,
to €55.2 billion (£48.2 billion) (0.43% of the European
Union's GNI) in 2012. EU ODA is predicted to be at 0.43% ODA/GNI
by 2015."
7.8 Finally, the Ministers note that the process
of developing the EU Council Conclusions on financing for development
beyond 2015, which will be the Council's response to the Communication,
will begin in September, with a view to their adoption by Council
in December 2013.
Conclusion
7.9 "Priority elements" and "guiding
principles" for the post-2015 development agenda are all
well and good: but it is the financing dimensions that will determine
the extent to which they are realised. The Council Conclusions
that are to be adopted in December will thus be of particular
importance. We would therefore like the Ministers:
— to
write to us about the outcome of the process of discussion and
consultation about the Council Conclusions that they outline above;
and
— to do so in sufficient time before
the Council at which they are to be adopted for a prior debate
to be arranged.
7.10 In the meantime, this Commission Communication
remains under scrutiny.
7.11 We also again draw this chapter of our Report
to the attention of the International Development Committee.
It will also form part of the document debate pack for the debate
on the earlier Commission Communication.
22 See headnote: (34747) 7075/13. Back
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