Annex: Draft EU Council Conclusions as of 15
November 2013
"Financing poverty eradication and sustainable
development beyond 2015
"Draft Conclusions of the Council and of
the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting
within the Council
1. "Work in the coming months and years
will be crucial in the process to establish an ambitious and comprehensive
post-2015 framework. The European Union (EU) and its Member States
are determined that the post-2015 agenda should reinforce the
international community's commitment to poverty eradication and
sustainable development. Recognising the intrinsic inter-linkage
between poverty eradication and sustainable development, we remain
committed to a single comprehensive framework and a single set
of global goals, as agreed in the June 2013 Council Conclusions
on the overarching post-2015 agenda[9]
and we welcome the adoption by UNGA of the outcome document of
the Special Event to follow up efforts made towards achieving
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on 25 September.
2. "In this context, the Council welcomes
the Commission Communication "Beyond 2015: towards a comprehensive
and integrated approach to financing poverty eradication and sustainable
development" and the accompanying Accountability Report on
Financing for Development 2013.[10]
"A Towards a comprehensive and integrated
approach to financing poverty eradication and sustainable development
beyond 2015
3. "In the light of the considerable global
changes the world faces, the EU and its Member States call for
a coherent and comprehensive international approach to financing
beyond 2015, addressing all dimensions of sustainable development
(economic, social and environmental), which should build on the
Monterrey Consensus and the Doha Declaration on Financing for
Development, and which should be fact based, forward looking and
guided by the following principles of universal application:
a. "Each country has the primary responsibility
for its own development. At the same time, all countries need
to take action to reach […] policy commitments, goals and
targets, agreed under relevant international processes, including
on global public goods and challenges, while keeping the flexibility
to choose the most effective measures for that purpose.
b. "An enabling environment, sound and coherent
policies, including stronger action on Policy Coherence for Development
by all countries, as well as good governance, human rights and
the rule of law are key in moving towards sustainable development,
and finance should be seen in the context of other means of implementation
and of actions that support progress on the delivery of a post-2015
framework.
c. "To obtain the best results, all financing
sources (public and private, domestic and international) need
to be mobilised and used strategically in a manner that maximises
synergies and impact.
d. "International finance processes need
to support synergies at national level between the various global
goals, thereby ensuring that efforts and resources can contribute
to several policy objectives at the same time and in a mutually
reinforcing manner.
e. "All countries should contribute their
fair share. In this context the EU and its Member States recognise
the value of South-South and triangular cooperation and call for
more harmonised practices among all development partners. The
most concessional international public financial flows should
be rebalanced towards those countries most in need, including
those in situations of fragility.
f. "Mutual accountability and transparency
of all actors at both national and global level as well as comprehensive
monitoring of domestic and international financing is needed to
ensure an effective use of resources and a greater focus on outcomes
and results.
4. "Building on these key elements, the
EU and its Member States stand ready to contribute to the reflection
on an integrated financial strategy framework which brings together
different international financing discussions. It should merge
the Rio+20 financing strand and the Financing for Development
follow-up process, and also build on the outcome of the processes
[…] related to the post-2015 framework. In this context,
the EU and its Member States support the work of the UN Intergovernmental
Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing in bringing
together the views of all stakeholders and await its report as
an important input to the international process. The coherence
of thematic financing streams and negotiations (e.g. climate change,
biodiversity and desertification) also needs to be ensured.
"B Continued EU action
to support resource mobilisation
5. "The EU and its Member States will step
up efforts to support the achievement of the MDGs by 2015. In
line with the comprehensive approach to supporting developing
countries in mobilising financing from all available sources,
instruments and mechanisms, the EU and its Member States reconfirm
their existing commitments on financing for development. The EU
and Member States recall the Council Conclusions on the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change[11]
and remain committed to contributing their
fair share of the developed countries' goal to jointly mobilise
USD 100 billion of climate finance annually by 2020 from a wide
variety of sources (public, private, bilateral and multilateral,
including alternative sources of finance) in the context of meaningful
mitigation actions and transparency of implementation; and it
remains committed to preparing the ground for adopting by 2015
at the latest an ambitious single global legally-binding climate
change agreement applicable to all. They […]reaffirm their
resolve to contribute to the achievement of the Hyderabad commitments
to double total biodiversity-related financial resource flows
to developing countries by 2015, using as the reference level
the average of annual biodiversity funding for the years 2006-2010,
and at least to maintain this level until 2020 and include biodiversity
in national prioritisation and planning. The EU and its Member
States will also continue to support science, technology and innovation
cooperation, as well as capacity building, including through its
expertise.
"Domestic public finance
6. "Taking into account that domestic public
resources already exceed international public finance twenty-fold
in developing countries as a whole, although it remains weak in
some of the poorest countries, the EU and its Member States remain
committed to supporting increased domestic resource mobilisation
and supporting the capacity of partner countries in the area of
taxation. The EU and its Member States also recognise the work
on domestic resource mobilisation that is carried out in international
fora such as the G8 and G20. The EU and its Member States will
continue to support good governance, including good financial
governance, the fight against corruption, tax havens and illicit
financial flows, and will increase its support for effective,
efficient, transparent and sustainable tax policies and administration,
including through providing its expertise and technical assistance.
They also call for the gradual elimination of environmentally
harmful subsidies.
7. "The EU and its Member States will continue
to encourage the participation of all countries in international
tax cooperation and to support regional tax administration cooperation
frameworks. Given the significant role natural resource revenues
can play in development, the EU and its Member States will further
support the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)
and encourage an efficient use of natural resources revenues.
They will also implement international and internal EU and Member
States' commitments on transparency and accountability. Some of
these commitments have been incorporated into EU legislation,
such as the EU Accounting and Transparency Directive.
8. "The EU and its Member States will continue
to support existing debt relief initiatives and to promote responsible
lending and borrowing practices and to support coordination, dialogue
and transparency among stakeholders. They will also promote the
participation of emerging creditors to debt discussions in different
fora, including the Paris Club.
"International public finance
9. "Official development assistance (ODA)
remains an important and catalytic element in the overall financing
available for developing countries, in particular to those most
in need. A key priority for Member States is to respect the EU's
formal undertaking to collectively commit 0.7% of GNI to official
development assistance by 2015. The EU and its Member States reaffirm
all their individual and collective ODA commitments, taking into
account the exceptional budgetary circumstances.[12]
10. "The Council underlines the importance
of more effective development co-operation, the central role of
the Busan Global Partnership and its commitment to implementing
the Busan Outcome. The EU and its Member States are committed
to strengthening the transparency of sustainable development finance
and stress the need for a […] modernised and coherent reporting
and monitoring system that fits post-2015 purposes. In that context,
the EU and its Member States work together on external development
finance measurement, including the role and definition of ODA,
in view of active involvement in discussions at the OECD/DAC.
"Private finance
11. "The private sector is the key driver
of growth and jobs and has a central role to play in the transition
to an inclusive green economy. The EU and its Member States stand
ready to support developing countries that are undertaking ambitious
economic transformations to create a secure and predictable environment
for harnessing the potential for businesses, including fair and
stable rules on taxes and regulations as well as efficient access
to domestic and external markets, including access to inclusive
finance. The EU and its Member States recognize the efforts of
the UN Global Compact in mobilizing significant private sector
action on sustainable development and will also urge companies
to adhere to internationally-agreed corporate social and environmental
responsibility and accountability principles and standards, including
the ILO core labour standards and OECD guidelines.
"The EU is ready for new partnerships and cooperation
arrangements with the private sector, in view of promoting private
financial flows, including FDI that will improve economic, environmental
and social sustainability.
12. "The EU and its Member States will continue
to use grants more strategically and effectively for leveraging
public and private sector resources towards policy priorities,
while fully taking into account debt sustainability and accountability
and avoiding market disturbances and budgetary risks. The EU and
its Member States will develop best practice on how, when and
where such blended finance can have the greatest impact, notably
through the EU Platform for Blending in External Cooperation.
13. "Recognising the key importance of remittances
for many developing countries, the EU and its Member States recall
the G8 and G20 goal of reducing the average cost of transferring
remittances from 10% to 5% by 2014 and reaffirm the need to ensure
faster, easier and cheaper remittance transfer, to maximise the
development impact of migration and mobility. They will also endevour
to strengthen, extend and standardise the measurement of remittance
flows.
14. "The EU remains developing countries'
largest trading partner and the market most open to them. The
EU and its Member States have delivered on their commitments to
increase Aid for Trade, helping developing countries to better
harness the benefits of trade. Going forward, they will endeavour
to improve coordination and effectivness of EU Aid for Trade and
to align it with the development strategies of partner countries.
"Mobilising the existing public and private
resources better: Innovative financing
15. "Taking into account that private finance
is bigger than all public resources combined, the EU and its Member
States will continue to support an enabling environment at domestic
and international level for harnessing this potential, including
through relevant EU investment facilities. The Council stresses
the importance of better exploiting the significant potential
of innovative public and private financing sources, mechanisms
and instruments. Innovative approaches to financing can help generate
new financing flows, help catalyse private investment and market
financing, as well as maximising the impact of existing public
and private funds. The Council take note of the work of the Leading
Group on Innovative Financing for Development […]. The Council
also calls for further exploration and implementation of innovative
sources, mechanisms and instruments by all relevant stakeholders.
"C Next steps for the EU
17. "The EU and its Member States look forward
to constructive and open dialogue with all stakeholders on post-2015
financing and reporting. Building on this dialogue, they will
further define and adapt, as necessary, the position of the EU
and its Member States on financing and other means of implementation,
including on policy coherence for development, tackling illicit
financial flows, and develop synergies between funding streams."
9 11559/13. Back
10
12434/13 and 12440/13 + ADD 1 + ADD 2 + ADD 3. Back
11
14856/13 Back
12
As set out in the Council Conclusions of 29 May 2013: "Annual
Report 2013 to the European Council on EU Development Aid Targets"
(9334/13). Back
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