April 19, 2012

Sustainable Energy for All: Milestone on a road to where?

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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. 

 

March 4, 2012

IDC evidence session with Andris Piebalgs

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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

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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)
 

December 19, 2011

‘Modernising European Development Policy’ at the European Development Days

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On 16 December, EDCSP jointly hosted a panel debate, as part of the European Think-Tanks Group and with French research institute Ferdi, looking at ‘Modernising European Development Policy’, at the European Development Days conference in Warsaw.

To watch a video of the debate, click here.

 

December 8, 2011

Modernising European Development Policy – Event at the European Development Days

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The EDCSP team is now all set for next week’s European Development Days.

 

On 16 December from 14.15 until 16.00, we will jointly host a panel debate, with our European Think-Tank Group partners and with French research institute FERDI. Our debate will look at ‘Modernising European Development Policy’ and boasts a high-level panel including:

  • Andris Piebalgs (European Commissioner for Development),
  •  Baroness Lindsay Northover (UK Government Spokesperson on International Development, House of Lords),
  •  Tertius Zongo (Former Prime Minister of Burkina Faso),
  •  Alain Henry (Head of the Cabinet of Mr. Henri de Raincourt),
  •  Paul Engel (Director of ECDPM),
  •  Patrick Guillaumont (President of FERDI), and
  •  Simon Maxwell (ODI) (chair).

If you are attending the EDDs too, please come along!

 

December 7, 2011

Commission adopts legislative proposals for external action instruments (2014-2020)

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The European Commission has today adopted legislative proposals for its external action instruments (2014-2020), setting out the practical implications of the new proposed development strategy – ‘An Agenda for Change’. These instruments will come under increasing scrutiny over the next few months, in the lead up to the Foreign Affairs Council in May 2012.

 

July 14, 2011

Budget support – good or bad for development?

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 ODI and Oxfam International hosted an event looking at budget support in Brussels on 13 July.

The event opened with presentations from ODI’s Marcus Manuel and the World Bank’s Edward Mountfield; and followed with a high level panel debate involving European Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, Sierra Leone Finance Minister Dr Samura Kamara, Serge Tomasi from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Friedrich Kitschelt from the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and Oxfam’s Helen Magombo. The event was chaired by ODI’s Simon Maxwell.

The debate focussed on the following questions:

  • Does budget support deliver development results? What kind of results?
  • What are the benefits of budget support in fostering domestic accountability and how can they be strengthened?
  • What are the right criteria for allocating budget support (notably in fragile states)?
  • Political dialogue. How to react to human rights breaches?
  • Should the political dialogue apply to just budget support or to all aid instruments?

To read more about the event click here.

 

February 13, 2011

The European Commission one year in. How is it doing?

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The current European Commission, headed by Jose Manuel Barroso, took office on 10 February 2010. One year in, how is it doing?

That’s a good question, but not one I am qualified to answer. The question I might be qualified to answer is much narrower, namely how is Andris Piebalgs doing? (more…)

 

December 9, 2010

Simon Maxwell participates in high-level session on post-Lisbon development challenges.

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As part of the official programme of the European Development Days, Simon Maxwell spoke on a high-level panel  on ‘The post-Lisbon landscape: development at a crossroads’. Other panellists included the UK’s Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell MP, the Swedish Minister for Development Cooperation, Gunilla Carlsson and the European Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs.

Simon Maxwell presented the conclusions of the European Think Tanks Group, outlined in its Memorandum ‘New Challenges, New Beginnings’, and contributed to a wide-ranging debate which covered both the institutional and policy challenges facing EU development cooperation.

 

March 17, 2010

EU Think Tanks Group report debated in European Parliament

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Today, New Challenges, New Beginnings was launched in the European Parliament, during the Development Committee meeting.  MEPs and the Development Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, exchanged views on the key issues for EU development cooperation outlined in the Think Tanks’ Report.

(more…)

 

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