4 The EU and the post-2015 development
agenda
| Committee's assessment
| Politically important
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| Committee's decision
| Not cleared from scrutiny; further information requested; drawn to the attention of the International Development Committee
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| Document details
| Commission Communication: A decent Life for all: from vision to collective action
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| Legal base
| — |
| Departments
| International Development; Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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Summary and Committee's conclusions
4.1 This Joint Communication sets out
the Commission's/EEAS's latest thinking on the post-2015 development
agenda: to secure international agreement for a new set of sustainable
development goals (SDGs) that will shape global development priorities
to 2030.
4.2 It is thus the latest stage in a
process that began with Commission Communication 7075/13 —
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; the 25 June
2013 Council Conclusions on the "Overarching Post 2015 Agenda";
and Commission Communication 12434/13 on the Commission's perspectives
on financing the post-2015 development framework (see "Background"
section for full details).
4.3 One of the outcomes from the UN
conference on sustainable development "Rio+20" was the
establishment of an intergovernmental Open Working Group (OWG)
to work further on sustainable development goals which are an
integral part of the post-2015 development framework. The OWG
consists of 30 UN member country representatives nominated by
different regions and began its work in September 2013 with the
initial input and support from the UN Secretary General. The OWG
is supported by an inter-agency technical support team and expert
panels. It will produce a report to the General Assembly during
its 68th session (September 2013-September 2014). It will thus
contribute to the UN Secretary General's Synthesis Report, which
will take stock of the inputs to the SDG process and guide inter-governmental
negotiations in 2015. The final post-2015 development framework
is expected to be agreed by the UN General Assembly in September
2015 and come in to force in January 2016.[11]
4.4 This further Communication seeks
to elaborate key principles, possible priority goal and target
areas, and highlights the need for a new global partnership. It
says that it should be seen as a contribution to refine the approach
of the EU and its Member States, through to the final stages of
the OWG and the work of the Expert Group on Sustainable Development
Financing.[12]
4.5 The Communication states that it
takes into account international discussions on sustainable development
and poverty eradication — including the Rio+20 Conference,
the Millennium Development Goals review process, the High Level
Panel on the post-2015 Development Agenda and the UNSG report
"A Life of Dignity for All" — and draws on discussions
with EU Member States.
4.6 The Communication calls for a framework
that is "global in aspiration and coverage and universally
applicable to all countries" and integrates the three dimensions
of sustainable development. It states that the framework should
be accountable, transparent and effective, and highlighting the
importance of mobilising the necessary financial flows to deliver.
Priority areas identified in Communication include: poverty; inequality;
food security and nutrition, sustainability agriculture; health;
education; gender equality and women's empowerment; water and
sanitation; sustainable energy; full and productive employment
and decent work for all; inclusive and sustainable growth; sustainable
cities and human settlements; sustainable consumption and production;
oceans and seas; biodiversity and forests; land degradation, including
desertification an drought; human rights, the rule of law, good
governance and effective institutions; and peaceful societies.
4.7 The Ministers (Lynne Featherstone
and Dan Rogerson) describe securing the best possible post-2015
framework as a priority for the UK. They want to see "a single,
compelling and communicable set of goals that eradicate extreme
poverty by 2030 and place sustainable development at the core",
which "finish the job started by the MDGs, include the critical
missing issues of open and accountable institutions, properly
integrate environmental sustainability and climate change and
be relevant to the challenges and opportunities of the next 15
years". These principles are, they say, reflected in the
Council Conclusions of June 2013 which provide the formal EU position
that continues to guide the EU's engagement on post-2015. Many
are reiterated in the "Vision and Principles" set out
in the Communication.
4.8 However, they believe that "the
publication of the Communication was premature and risks prejudicing
the outcome of the OWG, which is scheduled to conclude by September
2014". They nonetheless "hope that it can provide a
contribution to the EU's internal debate and process on the post-2015
development agenda with a view to developing a more detailed EU
position through Council Conclusions in the autumn". Those
Council Conclusions will "guide the EU's approach to the
intergovernmental negotiations due to commence in 2015, which
the EU will negotiate on behalf of Member States". They will
accordingly "work closely with the Presidency, the Commission
and Member States to agree these by the end of the year".
4.9 Given the importance of this
process, it is highly likely that we shall find it appropriate
for this Commission Communication, like its predecessors, to be
debated in due course: after the outcome of the OWG and before
the adoption of Council Conclusions. In the first instance, however,
we would like the Ministers to explain the nature of the intergovernmental
negotiations due to commence in 2015, and explain why it is that
"the EU will negotiate on behalf of Member States".
4.10 In the meantime, we shall retain
the Commission Communication under scrutiny.
4.11 We are also drawing this chapter
of our Report to the attention of the International Development
Committee.
Full details of the documents:
Commission Communication: A decent Life for all: from vision
to collective action: (36070), 10412/14 + ADD 1, COM(14) 335.
Background
4.12 The eight Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) were agreed at the United Nations Millennium Summit
in September 2000. They are to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger;
achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and
empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health;
combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental
sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development
— each on having targets and indicators. The target date
for achievement is 2015.
The Rio+20 Conference
4.13 "Rio+20" is the short
name for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
which took place in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012 — 20 years
after the landmark 1992 Rio Earth Summit. The Rio+20 conference
was the biggest UN conference ever: world leaders, along with
thousands of participants from the private sector, NGOs and other
groups, came together to discuss how to reduce poverty, advance
social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more
crowded planet.
4.14 The official discussions focussed
on two main themes: how to build a green economy to achieve sustainable
development and lift people out of poverty; and how to improve
international coordination for sustainable development.
4.15 More than $513 billion was pledged
to build a sustainable future. At its conclusion, UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon said:
"Rio+20 has given us a solid platform
to build on. And it has given us the tools to build with. The
work starts now."[13]
The previous "scene-setting" Commission
Communications and the June 2013 Council Conclusions
4.16 Commission Communication 7075/13
— 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 brought 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.
Further details are set out in our Report of April 2013.[14]
4.17 On 25 June 2013, the Council adopted
Conclusions on the "Overarching Post 2015 Agenda". The
Council said that the post-2015 process should reinforce the international
community's commitment to poverty eradication and sustainable
development and set out a single comprehensive and coherent framework
for effective delivery and results at all levels, with this framework
to be defined around a single set of global goals in order to
drive action in all countries. The Council underlined that:
· the
Millennium Declaration and the Rio +20 outcome remained central
reference documents when considering a post-2015 framework;
· the
eradication of poverty in all its dimensions and the promotion
of sustainable development are intrinsically linked, mutually
reinforcing and should be integrated into a single overarching
post 2015 framework as proposed by the Commission in its recent
Communication;
· the
need to fully integrate all relevant international processes,
in particular the work on the Review of the MDGs and the work
of the Open Working Group for the elaboration of Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) into one coherent process; and
· the
need also for a common and comprehensive approach to financing
for development beyond 2015 that addressed, in a coherent and
comprehensive manner, relevant international processes relating
to finance, the role of ODA, innovative sources of financing,
financial regulation and illicit financial flows, technology transfer,
capacity building, trade and those processes undertaken in the
context of climate change, biodiversity and desertification.
4.18 Looking ahead, the Council:
· committed
the EU and its Member States to playing an active and constructive
role in all ongoing processes and to support their convergence
in order to achieve a single overarching post 2015 framework;
· welcomed
the progress in the elaboration of an overarching post 2015 framework
and the work of the UN system, that of the UNSG High Level Panel
of Eminent Persons on the post-2015 Development Agenda, the Open
Working Group on SDG's and the regional, national and thematic
consultations led by the UN system, as important inputs to the
development of the framework;
· undertook
to continue to further develop priority areas, taking into account
the proposals outlined in the Commission Communication and proposals
by other partners; and
· undertook
also to follow and engage in the international processes and define
and adapt, as necessary, the position of the EU and its Member
States towards an overarching post 2015 agenda.[15]
4.19 Commission Communication 12434/13
then set out the Commission's perspectives on financing the post-2015
development framework. It analysed current and future financing
for development landscapes and examined the ways in which the
sources of financing for developing countries were changing, including
the mobilisation of resources in other areas including climate
change and biodiversity with a view to framing a coherent position.
It then set out some priority elements and 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.[16]
4.20 At our meeting on 13 September
2013, we recommend that the first of these Commission Communications
be debated in European Committee B, after the UN High Level Event
that it was focussed upon, so that interested Members could hear
from, and question.
4.21 With regard to the second Commission
Communication, we noted that "priority elements" and
"guiding principles" for the post-2015 development agenda
referred to in the earlier Commission Communication were all well
and good: but it was the financing dimensions that would determine
the extent to which they were realised. We therefore "tagged"
this Commission Communication and our Report on it to that debate.
4.22 That debate took place on 11 December
2013, at the end of which the Committee endorsed the following
motion:
"That the Committee takes note
of European Union Documents No. 7075/13, a Commission Communication:
A decent life for all, No. 12434/13, a Commission Communication:
Beyond 2015: towards a comprehensive and integrated approach to
financing poverty eradication and sustainable development, and
No. 12440/13 and Addenda 1 to 3, a Commission Staff Working Document:
the EU Accountability Report 2013 on Financing for Development;
welcomes these documents as a contribution to a debate that is
central to both development and environment policy; and supports
the Government's approach to the post-2015 development agenda."[17]
The Ministers' Explanatory Memorandum of 17 June
2014
4.23 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State at the Department for International Development (Lynne
Featherstone) and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Dan Rogerson) begin by
noting that, while this further Commission Communication states
that it "draws on discussions with EU Member States",
Member States were not formally consulted on the text during its
preparation, and that it is therefore not an articulation of agreed
EU policy on the post-2015, which accordingly remains as set out
in the Council Conclusions of June 2013.
4.24 Rather, they say, the Communication
provides the basis of discussions in Council working groups towards
a set of Council Conclusions by the end of the year:
"The Council will choose how
to respond to the proposals 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. We will work closely with the
EU Presidency and other member States as work proceeds on drafting
the Council Conclusions."
The Government's view
4.25 The Ministers say that securing
the best possible post-2015 framework is a priority for the UK.
4.26 They continue as follows:
"We want to see a single, compelling
and communicable set of goals that eradicate extreme poverty by
2030 and place sustainable development at the core. They need
to finish the job started by the MDGs, include the critical missing
issues of open and accountable institutions, properly integrate
environmental sustainability and climate change and be relevant
to the challenges and opportunities of the next 15 years.
"These principles are reflected
in the Council Conclusions of June 2013 which provide the formal
EU position which continues to guide the EU's engagement on post-2015.
And many of these are reiterated in the "Vision and Principles"
set out on the Communication. However, the Communication builds
on this with further thinking by the Commission, for example by
suggesting potential clustering of priority areas and making proposals
for targets.
"The UK believes the publication
of the Communication was premature and risks prejudicing the outcome
of the OWG, which is scheduled to conclude by September 2014.
However, we hope that it can provide a contribution to the EU's
internal debate and process on the post-2015 development agenda
with a view to developing a more detailed EU position through
Council Conclusions in the autumn. This will guide the EU's approach
to the intergovernmental negotiations due to commence in 2015,
which the EU will negotiate on behalf of Member States.
"We will work closely with
the Presidency, the Commission and Member States to agree these
by the end of the year."
4.27 On the question of Consultation,
the Minister note that:
"The subject of this Communication,
Post-2015, is a cross-Government agenda. The Department for International
Development (DFID) leads, working closely with others, including
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Department
for Energy and Climate Change (DECC). This EM has been jointly
prepared by DFID and DEFRA.
"The UK Government in also
in regular contact with civil society organisations and businesses
regarding the post-2015 agenda."
Previous Committee Reports
None; but see (34747) 7075/13: Fourteenth
Report HC 83-xiv (2013-14), chapter 1 (11 September 2013) and
Thirty-ninth Report HC 86-xxxviii (2012-13), chapter 6 (17 April
2013). Also see (35203) 12434/13: Fourteenth Report HC 83-xiv
(2013-14), chapter 7 (11 September 2013).
11 See http://www.beyond2015.org/un-actors for full
details. Back
12
As part of the post Rio 20+20 process, a working group on Financing
for Sustainable Development was set up under the UN System Task
Team (UNTT) to support the work of the OWG. See http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?menu=1558
for full details. Back
13
See http://www.un.org/en/sustainablefuture/ for full information
on Rio+20. Back
14
See Thirty-ninth Report HC 86-xxxviii (2012-13), chapter 6 (17
April 2013). Back
15
The full Council Conclusions are available at http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/137606.pdf. Back
16
See (35203) 12434/13: Fourteenth Report HC 83-xiv (2013-14),
chapter 7 (11 September 2013) for our consideration of this Commission
Communication. Back
17
The record of the debate is available at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmgeneral/euro/131211/131211s01.htm
(Gen Co Deb, European Committee B, 11 December 2013, cols.
3-20). Back
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