12 The EU and the post-2015 development
agenda
| Committee's assessment
| Politically important |
| Committee's decision | Not cleared from scrutiny; further information requested; drawn to the attention of the International Development Committee
|
| Document details | Commission Communication: A Global Partnership for Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development after 2015
|
| Legal base | —
|
Departments
Document numbers
| International Development; Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Energy and Climate Change
(36644), 5902/15 + ADD 1, COM(15) 44
|
Summary and Committee's conclusions
12.1 This Commission Communication is 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". That earlier Commission brought together the
debate about what international framework should succeed the MDGs[23]
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.[24]
12.2 Commission Communication 12434/13 on the Commission's
perspectives on financing the post-2015 development framework
is also relevant.[25]
12.3 Both Communications were examined in a European
Committee debate on 11 December 2013.[26]
And Commission Communication 7075/13 was also recently debated,
in European Committee B, on 11 March 2015 (see paragraphs 12.17-12.32
below for details).
12.4 This further Commission Communication, A
Global Partnership for Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development
after 2015, sets out the European Commission's views on the
delivery of a new global partnership for poverty eradication and
sustainable development after 2015. SDGs for post 2015 will be
agreed at the UN in September 2015. The global partnership will
provide the "Means of Implementation" for the post 2015
agenda. The Communication sets out the Commission's view on the
principles that should underpin the partnership and the components
needed to implement the post-2015 agenda. It also puts forward
specific proposals on possible contributions by the EU and its
Members States.
12.5 It proposes the following eight key components
of the global partnership:
— an
enabling policy environment at all levels;
— capacity development;
— mobilisation of domestic public finance;
— mobilisation of international public
finance;
— stimulation of trade;
— change through science and technology;
— mobilising the domestic and private sector;
— ensuring mechanisms for monitoring, accountability
and review.
12.6 The Communication will form the basis for agreeing
an EU position in advance of the UN Financing for Development
Conference in July and the "Post-2015" Summit at the
UN in September. The Communication strongly supports the UN Secretary
General's call that all developed countries meet the UN target
of 0.7% ODA/GNI and agree to concrete timetables for doing so.
12.7 The Ministers at the Department for International
Development (Baroness Northover), the Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs (Dan Rogerson) and the Department of Energy
and Climate Change (Amber Rudd) note that agreeing an EU recommitment
to 0.7% ODA/GNI is a top UK objective, and say that they will
make "all efforts to ensure that this includes a renewed
timetable and target dates for countries that have not yet met
their commitments".
12.8 The Ministers go on also to note that, though
based on recent discussions within the EU, Member States were
not formally consulted on the text during its preparation and
it is "not an articulation of agreed EU policy". The
Communication will, however, "set the tone for this year's
Council Conclusions on EU post-2015 development financing which
will be negotiated by Council working groups", and 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; they "will remain closely engaged
with the EU Presidency and other Member States as work proceeds
on drafting the Council Conclusions this spring".
12.9 The Ministers describe the Commission as a good
overview of what is needed for effective implementation of the
post-2015 development agenda and for laying the groundwork for
more specific policy development. The principles and key components
set out in the Communication are broadly in-line with established
HMG positions. They welcome in particular:
— inclusion
of the annex as a useful compendium of possible specific policy
measures which could be adopted as part of the "Means of
Implementation" of the post-2015 development agenda;
— the Communication's emphasis on integration
of the three dimensions of sustainable development as well as
climate change issues;
— the Commission's support for the UN Secretary
General's call that all developed countries should meet the UN
target of 0.7% ODA/GNI and agree to concrete timetables to do
so;
— calls for Upper Middle Income Countries
(UMICs) and emerging economies to commit to increasing their contribution
to international public financing and to specific targets and
timelines;
— recognition that finance and non-finance
Means of Implementation need to go hand in hand;
— the focus on the need for countries to
ensure optimal levels of domestic revenue to fund their own development;
— the inclusion of trade and agree that
it plays a critical role in development. They welcome too the
effort to categorise different actions between 'actions for all'
and actions for the EU;
— the emphasis on the role of the private
sector. It is rightly characterised as a key actor in the transition
to sustainable development and an important engine for innovation,
sustainable growth, job creation, trade and poverty reduction;
— the principles set out for addressing
private sector engagement;
— references to the important linkages
between climate change, sustainability, and development, since
eradicating extreme poverty is impossible without addressing climate
change and sustainability;
— the emphasis on the need for a monitoring,
accountability and review framework underpinned by the principles
of transparency, inclusiveness and responsiveness, efficiency
and effectiveness; and
— the strong focus on data and participation,
connecting national, regional and global reporting and accountability,
while avoiding duplication and building on existing systems (see
paragraph 12.39 below for the Ministers' comments on each of these
issues).
12.10 The Ministers also "broadly support"
the references made to migration within the context of a global
partnership for development, and consider it "important that
migration should be well-managed, legal and safe:
"We therefore welcome the focus in this
report as we consider that, through collaboration, migration can
act as an enabler to achieving the sustainable development goals.
We will also seek to ensure that the Council Conclusions do not
reflect or imply support for burden sharing/intra-EU relocation
of migrants and asylum seekers, a position the UK does not support.
We believe solidarity is best demonstrated through practical cooperation
to support the asylum and migration systems of Member States under
pressure, and to reduce the drivers of irregular migration."
12.11 Looking ahead, the Ministers:
— do
not envisage any change in UK financial commitments as a result
of this Communication, but are in discussion with the private
sector about what the Finance for Development agenda proposals
that relate to private sector activity might mean in practice;
— are also closely engaged with EU partners
in the context of the ongoing UN negotiations, to ensure that
the EU negotiating position does not stray into areas of Member
State competence; and
— note that the process of developing the
EU position and "offer" on Financing for Development
is taking place through a series of Joint Working Group and Expert
Meetings, with a view to the adoption of Council Conclusions at
the 25 May Development Ministers meeting.
12.12 There will no doubt be a time when this
process will warrant debating. However, as the Ministers make
clear, this Commission Communication is not an EU position, and
that this has to be elaborated between now and the end-May "development"
Foreign Affairs Council. The Council Conclusions agreed thereat
will thus be the key document.
12.13 The Committee would therefore be grateful
if the Ministers would provide the Committee with:
— a
copy of the draft Council Conclusions that will go to the Council,
with their views thereon; and
— then a copy of the agreed Council
Conclusions, and their assessment of the final outcome.
12.14 The latter should demonstrate how they have
ensured that "the EU negotiating position does not stray
into areas of Member State competence" (c.f. paragraph 12.30
below).
12.15 In the meantime, we shall retain the documents
under scrutiny.
12.16 We also draw these developments to the attention
of the International Development Committee.
Full details of
the documents: Commission
Communication: A Global Partnership for Poverty Eradication
and Sustainable Development after 2015: (36644), 5902/15
+ ADD 1, COM(15) 44.
Background
12.17 The 25 June 2013 Council Conclusions on the
"Overarching Post 2015 Agenda"[27]
stressed 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. The framework
should be defined around a single set of global goals in order
to drive action in all countries. The EU and its Member States
reiterated their commitment to play a full and active role in
the work to define the post-2015 framework and to work inclusively
with all partners, including civil society, scientific and knowledge
institutions, local authorities, the private sector and social
partners, in considering priority areas for the framework.
12.18 This follow-up Joint Communication sets out
the Commission's and European External Action Service's thinking
on the post-2015 development agenda, so as to secure international
agreement for a new set of sustainable development goals (SDGs)
that would shape global development priorities to 2030. The Committee
first considered this Joint Communication at its meeting on 2
July 2014.[28]
12.19 The next stage was the UN Secretary General's
(UNSG) Open Working Group (OWG) report, which was adopted at the
69th UNGA in September 2014. A synthesis of this report was to
feed into the intergovernmental negotiations due to commence in
early 2015 that Kenya and Ireland would facilitate, and which
would culminate in a Summit at the 70th UNGA in September 2015,
when the post-2015 framework would be agreed.
12.20 In our 3 September 2014 Report, we noted that
we were content thus far with the Ministers' (Baroness Northover
and Dan Rogerson) clarification regarding both the negotiating
timetable and in what ways "the EU will negotiate on behalf
of Member States"; the latter being essentially because:
—
of EU competence in development issues;[29]
— this is a tried and tested method, with
previous such processes having demonstrated that negotiating as
the EU is more likely to secure UK objectives than acting alone,
given the tendency in UN negotiations to adopt a "bloc"
approach;[30] and
— because the Ministers envisage a "team
EU approach", with a burden sharing agreement enabling individual
Member States, including the UK, to lead negotiations on certain
issues or goal areas.
12.21 However, as the Ministers noted, how this would
work in practice needed to be agreed with the Commission, Member
States and legal advisers; we asked the Ministers to write again
with full information on these arrangements, once they had been
agreed, explaining how they reflected the proper division of competences
under the Treaties.
12.22 The Ministers set our their aims with regard
to the Council Conclusions that were due to be agreed in December
2014, shortly after the publication of the UNSG's synthesis report.
We asked them to write to us with their evaluation of those Council
Conclusions, at which point we envisaged recommending that this
Commission Communication be debated, so that the House would have
the benefit of both documents when the debate took place.
12.23 We also continued to look forward to hearing
from them in the New Year about arrangements that, as they rightly
put it, "reflect the proper division of competences under
the Treaties".[31]
The Ministers' letter of 8 January 2015
12.24 The Ministers (Baroness Northover and Dan Rogerson)
said that the Council Conclusions: "A transformative post-2015
agenda" were endorsed at the 12 December 2014 Foreign Affairs
Council (Development), adopted by the 16 December 2014 General
Affairs Council and endorsed by the Environment Council on 17
December 2014.[32] They
updated and set the broad parameters of the EU's negotiating position.
They helpfully remained firm on principle, avoid setting out a
detailed negotiating position prematurely, yet maintained strong
reference to the Government's priorities on poverty eradication,
gender, environmental sustainability, climate change and governance.
What was needed was a final framework of goals and targets that
was simple, inspiring and workable while retaining the breadth
and balance of the 17 goals and 169 targets proposed in the Open
Working Group (OWG) Report; and with a strong focus on eradicating
extreme poverty with sustainable development at the core. This
was, they said, within reach in the forthcoming negotiations and
the Conclusions provided a good basis for the Government to continue
to build support for this approach.
12.25 The Conclusions welcomed the UN Secretary General's
synthesis report (published on 4 December 2014 and proposing a
framework and organising principles for the final goals framework),
which would be an important input into the intergovernmental negotiations
that commenced in January. It provided a helpful framing of the
issues and points to the need for a more focused outcome on post-2015.
It also highlighted the inseparability of environmental sustainability
from poverty eradication and growth, and proposed six "essential
elements" to frame the post-2015 goals and targets. How these
elements related to one another would need to be clarified in
due course and the Government would need to ensure that there
was sufficient integration of important cross-cutting issues such
as environmental sustainability and climate change, into all relevant
goals and targets.
12.26 The Ministers also professed themselves pleased
that the Conclusions recalled that the EU had formally undertaken
to collectively commit 0.7% of GNI to Official Development Assistance
by 2015 — "an important signal that we take the means
of implementation seriously and that we will collectively honour
our commitments".
12.27 Looking ahead, the Ministers anticipated a
further Commission Communication and subsequent Council Conclusions
on means of implementation in the New Year, and would be "working
to ensure effective co-ordination between the goals and financing
tracks.
12.28 On the EU negotiating arrangements, the Ministers
said that the exact details of the negotiating arrangements for
the negotiations within the EU remain to be discussed and developed
under the Latvian Presidency and that they continue to favour
a "Team EU" or similar approach involving EU actors,
the Presidency and Member States based on their expertise";
this, they believe, would be "beneficial in allowing us to
maximise our ability to achieve UK objectives"; but, they
recognised:
"an EU position may require compromise or
may not be reached in certain areas and will therefore need to
ensure sufficient flexibility for both the EU and Member States
to play a constructive role in negotiations without prejudicing
existing competence/representation arrangements."
12.29 The Ministers concluded by asserting that "the
UK has been a key player in post-2015 discussions", and declare
that they are "committed to ensuring an ambitious and implementable
framework that is needed to drive action over the next fifteen
years".
Our assessment
12.30 We noted the question marks over the detailed
arrangements that would underpin the "Team EU" approach,
and that some compromise and flexibility might be needed at times.
However, as had been noted previously, this approach was tried-and-trusted,
and to the best of our knowledge had not infringed upon the proper
division of competences under the Treaties in the past. We looked
forward to being updated on how these arrangements were working
in practice during the process of scrutinising the forthcoming
Communication on means of implementation.
12.31 In the meantime, we concluded that it was now
time for the issues set out in the Joint Communication and the
Council Conclusions on it to be debated in European Committee
B.[33]
12.32 That debate took place on Wednesday 11 March,
at the end of which the Committee resolved thus:
"That the Committee takes note of European
Union Document No. 10412/14 and Addendum, a Commission Communication:
A decent Life for all: from vision to collective action; welcomes
the document as an important contribution to a debate that is
central to both development and environment policy; and supports
the Government's efforts in taking forward the post-2015 development
agenda."[34]
The Commission Communication
12.33 This Communication, A Global Partnership
for Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development after 2015,
sets out the European Commission's views on the delivery of a
new global partnership for poverty eradication and sustainable
development after 2015.
12.34 The Global Partnership will provide the "Means
of Implementation" for the post 2015 agenda. The Communication
sets out the Commission's view on the principles that should underpin
the partnership and the components needed to implement the post-2015
agenda. It also puts forward specific proposals on possible contributions
by the EU and its Members States. It proposes the following key
components:
— an
enabling policy environment at all levels;
— capacity development;
— mobilisation of domestic public finance;
— mobilisation of international public
finance;
— stimulation of trade;
— change through science and technology;
— mobilising the domestic and private sector;
(viii) harnessing positive effects of migration; and
— ensuring mechanisms for monitoring, accountability
and review.
12.35 The Communication will form the basis for agreeing
an EU position in advance of the UN Financing for Development
Conference in July and Post-2015 Summit in September. The Communication
strongly supports the UN Secretary General's call that all developed
countries should meet the UN target of 0.7% ODA/GNI and agree
to concrete timetables for doing so.
12.36 In their joint Explanatory Memorandum of 25
February 2015, the Ministers say that, though the Commission Communication
is based on recent discussions within the EU, Member States were
not formally consulted on the text during its preparation and
it is "not an articulation of agreed EU policy".
12.37 The Communication will, however, "set
the tone for this year's Council Conclusions on EU post-2015 development
financing which will be negotiated by Council working groups",
and that 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; they "will remain
closely engaged with the EU Presidency and other Member States
as work proceeds on drafting the Council Conclusions this spring".
12.38 The Ministers also note that this Commission
Communication was also informed by the 2014 EU Accountability
Report on Financing for Development, which was published in October
2014, and reports against EU commitments on all areas of Finance
for Development:
"The Report found substantial progress against
EU commitments on domestic resource mobilisation, private finance
for development, combining public and private finance for development,
and using development finance effectively; and limited or no progress
on EU commitments concerning international public finance for
development. We welcome the Report as a valuable accountability
tool, and a platform to demonstrate considerable EU progress against
many aspects of the Finance for Development agenda."
The Government's view
12.39 The Ministers' detailed views are as follows:
"We are supportive of the principles and
key components set out in the Communication, which are broadly
in-line with established HMG positions. We welcome the inclusion
of the annex as a useful compendium of possible specific policy
measures which could be adopted as part of the Means of Implementation
of the post-2015 development agenda.
"The Council Conclusions adopted at the
EU General Affairs Council in December 2014 set out the EU's high-level
position on the post-2015 development framework. This Communication
now provides a good overview of what is needed for effective implementation
of the post-2015 development agenda and lays the groundwork for
more specific policy development. This is an important step in
the process towards agreeing an EU position for the UN negotiations
on Finance for Development.
"We welcome the Communication's emphasis
on integration of the three dimensions of sustainable development
as well as climate change issues.
"We welcome in particular the Commission's
support for the UN Secretary General's call that all developed
countries should meet the UN target of 0.7% ODA/GNI and agree
to concrete timetables to do so. Agreeing an EU recommitment to
0.7% ODA/GNI is a top UK objective. We will make all efforts to
ensure that this includes a renewed timetable and target dates
for countries that have not yet met their commitments. We also
welcome calls for Upper Middle Income Countries (UMICs) and emerging
economies to commit to increasing their contribution to international
public financing and to specific targets and timelines.
"We welcome the recognition that finance
and non-finance Means of Implementation need to go hand in hand.
Efforts should focus equally on setting up the right policies
and on mobilising adequate financial resources as these are mutually
dependent. The Communication rightly highlights the importance
of good governance and policy coherence in facilitating an enabling
policy environment for inclusive and sustainable growth. It also
highlights key issues including tackling environmentally harmful
subsidies.
"We welcome the focus on the need for countries
to ensure optimal levels of domestic revenue to fund their own
development. This should be achieved through fair, efficient,
transparent and accountable administration of both revenue and
expenditure policy. Domestic revenue is the most sustainable form
of development finance. The Communication highlights ways in which
this can be enhanced including by deepening and broadening the
domestic resource base, effective debt management and natural
capital accounting. We also welcome the acknowledgement that national
action should be complemented by international cooperation, for
example to combat tax evasion and avoidance. It will be important
that this international cooperation extends to combatting corruption
and money laundering.
"We welcome the inclusion of trade and agree
that it plays a critical role in development. We welcome too the
effort to categorise different actions between 'actions for all'
and actions for the EU. We agree with the commitment made to the
WTO, extending market access to Least Developed Countries and
the focus on trade facilitation. The Communication recognises
that the EU and its Member States are the leading providers of
Aid for Trade and the EU market is the most open to developing
countries. These achievements are worth noting, but we believe
that we can be even more ambitious with our offers on trade in
Financing for Development. In moving forward it will be important
to also consider reducing compliance costs for LDC exporters and
removal of subsidies and distortions in agricultural trade.
"We welcome the emphasis on the role of
the private sector. It is rightly characterised as a key actor
in the transition to sustainable development and an important
engine for innovation, sustainable growth, job creation, trade
and poverty reduction. We also welcome the principles set out
for addressing private sector engagement. Moving forward we would
like to see more specific proposals on how to mobilise private
sector finance for poverty eradication and sustainable development.
"We welcome references to the important
linkages between climate change, sustainability, and development,
since eradicating extreme poverty is impossible without addressing
climate change and sustainability. It will be important to visibly
integrate climate and sustainability issues into the post-2015
development framework.
"We broadly support the references made
to migration within the context of a global partnership for development.
The UK considers it important that migration should be well-managed,
legal and safe. We therefore welcome the focus in this report
as we consider that, through collaboration, migration can act
as an enabler to achieving the sustainable development goals.
We will also seek to ensure that the Council Conclusions do not
reflect or imply support for burden sharing/intra-EU relocation
of migrants and asylum seekers, a position the UK does not support.
We believe solidarity is best demonstrated through practical cooperation
to support the asylum and migration systems of Member States under
pressure, and to reduce the drivers of irregular migration.
"We welcome the emphasis on the need for
a monitoring, accountability and review framework underpinned
by the principles of transparency, inclusiveness and responsiveness,
efficiency and effectiveness. The strong focus on data and participation
is also welcome. We agree the importance of connecting national,
regional and global reporting and accountability, while avoiding
duplication and building on existing systems. We hope that such
a system would serve to drive political action where progress
is off-track, and look forward to discussing further within the
EU and in ongoing negotiations in New York."
12.40 Concerning the impact on UK business or civil
society, the Ministers say:
"We do not envisage any impact on UK business
or civil society as a result of this Communication. Some of the
proposals which may be adopted as part of the Finance for Development
agenda relate to private sector activity, and we are in discussion
with the private sector about what this might mean in practice.
We are also closely engaged with EU partners in the context of
the ongoing UN negotiations, to ensure that the EU negotiating
position does not stray into areas of Member State competence."
Previous Committee Reports
None, but see (36070), 10412/14 + ADD 1: Twenty-ninth
Report HC 219-xxviii (2014-15), chapter 1 (14 January 2015); Twenty-fourth
Report HC 219-xxiii (2014-15), chapter 5 (3 December 2014), Ninth
Report HC 219-ix (2014-15), chapter 10 (3 September 2014) and
Fifth Report HC 219-v (2014-15), chapter 4 (2 July 2014); also
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).
23 The eight goals UN Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) that, in 2000, the UN set itself to achieve, most by 2015:
eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary
education; promote gender equality; reduce child mortality; improve
maternal health; combat HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases;
ensure environmental sustainability; develop a partnership for
development - each with associated targets and benchmarks to measure
progress. Back
24
See (34747), 7075/13: Thirty-ninth Report HC 86-xxxviii (2012-13),
chapter 6 (17 April 2013). Back
25
See (35203), 12434/13: Fourteenth Report HC 83-xiv (2013-14),
chapter 7 (11 September 2013) for our consideration of this Commission
Communication. Back
26
The record of the European Committee is available at Gen Co
Deb, European Committee B, 11 December 2013, cols. 3-20. Back
27
See Council Conclusions. Back
28
See Fifth Report HC 219-v (2014-15), chapter 4 (2 July 2014). Back
29
The EU's competence in development cooperation and humanitarian
aid is a specific form of shared competence commonly referred
to as a parallel competence. The treaties define the nature and
scope of the EU's competence as follows: "In the areas of
development cooperation and humanitarian aid, the Union shall
have competence to carry out activities and conduct common policy:
however the exercise of that competence shall not result in Member
States being prevented from exercising theirs". (Article
4(4) TFEU). While the Maastricht Treaty (1993) provided the first
explicit treaty basis for cooperation with developing countries,
the Nice Treaty (2003) provided a legal basis for financial and
technical cooperation with third countries, notably including
non-developing countries in the Balkans, the Middle East and North
Africa. Most recently, the Treaty of Lisbon (2009) added an explicit
basis for humanitarian aid. More generally, the EU's competence
in development cooperation and humanitarian aid is defined in
detail in Part V of the TFEU, which sets out the overall framework
of the EU's external action. For a full discussion of these issues,
see "Review of the Balance of Competences between the United
Kingdom and the European Union: Development Cooperation and Humanitarian
Aid Report". Back
30
I.e. the G77, EU and JUSCANZ (Australia, Canada New Zealand, Japan,
US). Back
31
Twenty-fourth Report HC 219-xxiii (2014-15), chapter 5 (3 December
2014). Back
32
"A transformative post-2015 agenda": endorsed at the
Foreign Affairs Council (Development) on 12 December, adopted
by the General Affairs Council on 16 December and endorsed by
the Environment Council on 17 December 2014; 39 paragraphs over
seven pages. Back
33
See (36070), 10412/14 + ADD 1, COM(14) 335: Twenty-ninth Report
HC 219- xxviii
(2014-15), chapter 1 (14 January 2015). Back
34
The record of the debate is available at Gen Co Deb, European
Committee B, 11 March 2015, cols. 3-18. Back
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