Click here to read the EDCSP team’s monthly update for May.
May 24, 2012
A waymark reached. Is the finish line in sight?
Posted by edcsp under Article, Blog by Simon Maxwell & Mikaela Gavas | Tags: "Simon Maxwell", Agenda for Change, EU Development Policy, Mikaela Gavas, multi-annual financial framework |Leave a Comment
Simon Maxwell and Mikaela Gavas analyse the Conclusions regarding the new EU development policy, ‘Agenda for Change’, published by the EU Foreign Affairs Council in October 2011. They ask what has been gained and lost in the process, and whether it is now possible to see what kind of settlement will be reached when the Multi-Annual Financial Framework for 2014-20 is agreed. Read their opinion here.
May 18, 2012
The future of EU budget support: political conditions, differentiation and coordination
Posted by edcsp under Research | Tags: budget support, conditionality, European development policy, European Think-Tanks Group, Heidi Tavakoli |Leave a Comment
At the end of 2011 the European Commission published a Communication on the future of EU budget support. It recommended that budget support be tied to the political conditions in recipient countries, particularly those related to human rights and democratic values.
The European Think-Tanks Group, in collaboration with the Institute of Development and Policy Management, look at the implications of this new approach on EU development assistance in this report
May 14, 2012
Evaluating EU aid: A booming business!
Posted by edcsp under Article, Blog, Blog by Mikaela Gavas | Tags: "EU aid", DAC Peer Review, IDC, IDC inquiry, Mikaela Gavas, OECD-DAC |Leave a Comment
Mikaela Gavas analyses the two latest reports on EU development aid, the UK’s House of Commons International Development Committee (IDC) inquiry published on 27 April, and the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) peer review published three days earlier. She finds that although the main findings of the evaluations were not dissimilar, the key takeaways from both reports are rather different and there are some stark contrasts between the two reports.
April 30, 2012
ODI Submission to the European Commission Consultation on the Proposed EU Platform for External Cooperation and Development
Posted by edcsp under Article, Research Paper | Tags: Dirk Willem te Velde, EC consultation, European Commission, Isabella Massa, Matthew Geddes, Mikaela Gavas, ODI, Proposed EU Platform for External Cooperation and Development |Leave a Comment
In this ODI Submission to the European Commission on the Proposed EU platform for external Cooperation and Development, Mikaela Gavas, Matthew Geddes, Isabella Massa and Dirk Willem te Velde analyse what are the benefits of blending, whether or not loans and grants have differential trade distortionary effects, and what are the optimal governance arrangements for the EU blending facilities.
April 30, 2012
Where are the biggest gains in aid effectiveness –practically speaking?
Posted by edcsp under Article by Simon Maxwell, Blog, Blog by Simon Maxwell | Tags: "Simon Maxwell", aid effectiveness, development aid, Paris Agenda |Leave a Comment
Simon Maxwell examines the practical implications of the benefits of measures to improve aid effectiveness at the European level, by analysing the European Commission funded report on the subject by Bigsten, Platteau and Tengstam and an EDCSP commentary by Prizzon and Greenhill.
April 27, 2012
International Development Committee publishes report on EU development assistance
Posted by edcsp under News, Research | Tags: European development policy, IDC, inquiry, International Development Committee |Leave a Comment
The International Development Committee has published a report on EU development assistance.
In the report, the Committee calls on the UK Government to press for funding to be diverted, away from higher middle income countries bordering Europe, and reallocated to poorer developing countries. In order to make this happen, the MPs say Ministers must challenge and change the definition of Official Development Assistance.
Read the IDC’s report and press release, and a submission to the inquiry from ODI’s Sian Herbert and Romilly Greenhill here.
April 26, 2012
EU Blending Facilities: Implications for Future Governance Options
Posted by edcsp under Research | Tags: blending, development finance, EU, European development policy, European Investment Bank, grants, loans |Leave a Comment
EDCSP has relaunched its report looking at “EU Blending Facilities: Implications for Future Governance Options”, following the launch of the European Commission’s public consultations into a ‘Proposed EU Platform for External Cooperation and Development’ to oversee blending of loans and grants.
The report offers an independent contribution to the EU’s internal discussions on its future mechanisms for the complementary use of grants and loans (blending). It reviews the existing EU blending mechanisms, comparing their different governance arrangements, drawing lessons from each, and considers the pros and cons of possible future governance options for blending operations.
Read the report here.
April 25, 2012
EU DAC Peer Review (2012) is published
Posted by edcsp under News | Tags: "EU aid", "European Union", aid development, DAC Peer Review, development policy, EU, ODA |Leave a Comment
The 2012 DAC’s Peer Review of the European Union, published today, notes that, since the last review 5 years ago, the EU has taken important steps to make its aid more effective and give it more impact, which included organisational restructuring, streamlining the financial process, improving co-ordination, and working more with civil society.
However, the Review also notes that more progress is needed in a number of areas. It says the EU must: clarify the responsibilities of the EU institutions working on development; lower the administrative burden on EU staff and developing countries; monitor and communicate development results; and draw-up a coherent approach to working with developing countries emerging from conflict situations.
Read the full Review here.
April 20, 2012
Time to end ambiguity in European policy-making
Posted by edcsp under Blog, Blog by Simon Maxwell | Tags: "Simon Maxwell", development policy, European Commission, policy-making, trade and development policy |Leave a Comment
On 27 January 2012, the European Commission published a Communication on ‘Trade, Growth and Development: Tailoring trade and investment policy for those countries most in need’. On 12 March, this was discussed in the Council of Ministers, which adopted Conclusions on the subject. Simon critically analyses the ambiguity of European policy-making, taking the Commission’s Communication as a case study in this EDCSP blog.
April 20, 2012
Rio+20 Conference: How to get the future we want
Posted by edcsp under Article | Tags: Dr Dirk Willem te Velde, ODI, Rio +20, sustainable development |Leave a Comment
With the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20 Conference) on 20-22 June fast approaching, the world is reflecting on what has been achieved in the 20 years since the last Rio Summit and how the ongoing challenges can be tackled. Read an interview with Dirk Willem te Velde discussing findings from the forthcoming European Report on Development here.
April 19, 2012
Sustainable Energy for All: Milestone on a road to where?
Posted by edcsp under Blog, Events | Tags: Andrew Scott, Andris Piebalgs, Ban Ki Moon, development, energy, EU Sustainable Energy for All Summit, International Year for Sustainable Energy for All |Leave a Comment
Four months old, the International Year for Sustainable Energy for All seems well down the road to successfully ensuring energy poverty has higher priority in development policy and programming. The EU Sustainable Energy for All Summit this week, brought together development ministers from the EU and Norway, energy ministers from developing countries, the Commission President, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, and three or four hundred others, to express support for the three objectives of the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative: to achieve by 2030, universal access to modern energy services, a doubling of the rate of improvement in energy efficiency, and a doubling of the share of renewables in the global energy mix.
ODI Research Fellow Andrew Scott analyses the initiative in this EDCSP blog.
April 11, 2012
EDCSP update – April 2012
Posted by edcsp under News, Newsletter | Tags: aid effectiveness, development, EDCSP, EU, European development policy, European Report on Development. public consultation, ODI, Rio +20 |Leave a Comment
Click here to read the EDCSP team’s monthly update for April
April 11, 2012
Public consultations launched by the European Commission
Posted by edcsp under News | Tags: civil society, development, European Commission, external cooperation, grants, loans, public consultation |Leave a Comment
The European Commission has recently launched two public consultations. The ‘Proposed EU Platform for External Cooperation and Development’ takes a look at setting up a platform to oversee blending of loans and grants, while the second one focuses on the future EU policy on ‘Civil Society Organisations in development cooperation’.
April 10, 2012
The Aid Effectiveness Agenda: The benefits of going ahead
Posted by edcsp under Research | Tags: aid effectiveness, Annalisa Prizzon, Division of Labour, European development policy, Romilly Greenhill |Leave a Comment
Those arguing for better coordination of aid and for a greater multilateral share have long based their arguments on claims about savings in transactions costs or greater efficiency in allocation. For example, the big EU push on Division of Labour, back in 2007, was based on this argument. A calculation by consultants HTSPE suggested that the EU could save €3-6bn a year by reducing donor and sector proliferation.
A study in 2011 by Bigsten, Platteau and Bengstam, again for the EU, deepened and updated the analysis. EDCSP has commissioned a review of the new study, by Annalisa Prizzon and Romilly Greenhill from ODI.
Click here to read Annalisa and Romilly’s commentary.
March 29, 2012
Global growth and the environment: two issues, one solution?
Posted by edcsp under Blog | Tags: development, Dirk Willem te Velde, environment, ERD, European Report on Development, growth, resources |Leave a Comment
The planet is under pressure – a whole conference is devoted to the topic this week. Global growth is under pressure - full debt deleveraging has not yet taken place in Europe, and every day brings new evidence of a growth slowdown in China and India. The normal course of action is to see these as separate issues and discuss solutions in separate fora.
What if we argue that this is no longer considered efficient because short-term welfare and long-term planetary boundaries are increasingly linked? In what ways could environmental and growth thinking in the G20 and Rio+20 reinforce each other?
Building on findings from the forthcoming European Report on Development, Dirk Willem te Velde asks is it time address the crises facing global growth and the environment as one issue?
March 21, 2012
IDC evidence session with Stephen O’Brien MP
Posted by edcsp under News | Tags: EU Development Policy, IDC, International Development Committee, Stephen O’Brien |Leave a Comment
As part of the International Development Committee’s inquiry into EU development assistance, Stephen O’Brien MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development, and Anthony Smith, Director of International Relations at DFID were recently called to give evidence.
Read the transcript here
March 12, 2012
EDCSP update – March 2012
Posted by edcsp under News, Newsletter | Tags: development, EDCSP, EU, European development policy, ODI, policy |Leave a Comment
March 8, 2012
EU budget surprise: Member States proposing budgetisation of the EDF
Posted by edcsp under Blog, News | Tags: "Simon Maxwell", EDF, EDF budgetisation, European Development Fund, European development policy, Sian Herbert |1 Comment
Out of the blue a significant number of EU Member States have begun advocating for the European Development Fund to be incorporated within the main EU budget – not in 2021, as previously discussed, but as early as 2014, when the new Multi-Annual Financial Framework comes into force. Is this some kind of conversion to rational analysis? A device to reduce spending through Brussels? Or a clever negotiating strategy designed to achieve something else entirely?
Read Simon and Siân’s analysis in this EDCSP Opinion.
March 5, 2012
Differentiation and MICs: A view from Europe
Posted by edcsp under Events, News | Tags: beyond aid, differentiation, European development policy, MICs, poverty, Sian Herbert |Leave a Comment
As discussions over Denmark’s new international development policy continue, Siân talks to Danish development news site U-landsnyt about the EU’s proposed policy of ‘differentiation’ and future cooperation with MICs. Read the interview here (in Danish).
March 4, 2012
IDC evidence session with Andris Piebalgs
Posted by edcsp under News | Tags: Andris Piebalgs, EU Development Policy, IDC, International Development Committee |Leave a Comment
As part of the International Development Committee’s inquiry into EU development assistance, European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs was recently called to give evidence.
Read the transcript here.
February 21, 2012
Simon is appointed to Andris Piebalgs’ Scientific Advisory Board
Posted by edcsp under News | Tags: "Simon Maxwell", Andris Piebalgs, European Commission, Scientific Advisory Board for EU development policy |1 Comment
We are delighted to announce that Simon Maxwell has been appointed a Founder Member of European Commissioner Andris Piebalgs’ Scientific Advisory Board for EU development policy.
After the publication of the Commission’s new development strategy – ‘An Agenda for Change’, the Scientific Board is another step to further modernise EU development policy.
The other members are:
- Ha-Joon Chang (University of Cambridge)
- Paul Collier (Oxford University)
- Dirk Messner (German Development Institute)
- François Bourguignon (Paris School of Economics)
- Elizabeth Sidiropoulos (South African Institute of International Affairs)
- Jonathan White (German Marshall Fund)
- Lennart Wohlgemuth (Gothenburg University)
February 20, 2012
Meeting report: The European Commission launches its latest trade strategy
Posted by edcsp under Events, News | Tags: development, EU, GSP reform, Jodie Keane, Karel De Gucht, trade |Leave a Comment
The EU is the most open trading bloc in the world, around three quarters of EU imports from developing countries are duty free – this is a much larger share than imports to the US and China. However, Least Developed Countries (LDCs) continue to account for a low share of global trade, experiencing an increase in their share of global trade of just 0.4% (from 0.8% to 1.2%) over the last decade. In the view of recent trends, the European Commission has decided to review its traditional trade and development tools, in a bid to tailor them to those countries that are getting left behind.
On 7 February 2012, the European Commission held a public consultation meeting on its latest trade strategy – ‘Trade, Growth & Development: tailoring trade and investment policy for those countries most in need’, which was released at the end of January.
ODI’s Jodie Keane reports back in this meeting report.
February 17, 2012
The European Commission’s legislative proposals for financing EU Development Cooperation
Posted by edcsp under Research | Tags: European development policy, legislative proposals, MFF, Mikaela Gavas, multi-annual financial framework |Leave a Comment
In December, the European Commission unveiled its package of legislative proposals on the EU’s external action instruments for the period 2014-20 as part of the negotiations on the Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF), the EU’s spending review. Mikaela Gavas has written an ODI Background Note analysing the changes introduced by the instruments of direct relevance to international development.
February 14, 2012
Simon and Siân give evidence to the IDC inquiry on EU development assistance
Posted by edcsp under Events, Facts, News | Tags: "Simon Maxwell", European development policy, IDC, International Development Committee, Sian Herbert |Leave a Comment
The International Development Committee recently called Simon Maxwell and Siân Herbert to give oral evidence at a session for the inquiry into EU development assistance.
The session covered a vast array of issues including:
- The EU’s new development strategy – An Agenda for Change;
- The comparative advantages of the EC, compared to both bilateral and multiateral donors;
- The differences between the EU’s central development instruments, and the European Development Fund (EDF);
- How the EU should deal with middle-incomes countries;
- Administration costs – looking at the tricky task of comparing DFID to the European Commission’s development projects; and
- Policy coherence for development.
Click here for a transcript of the session.
