At the recent EU Development Days (16 & 17 October), on behalf of the European Think-Tanks Group, Siân Herbert recorded audio interviews with key participants on confronting inequality in developing countries.

Click on the participant’s name for a link to the recording.

  • Guggi Laryea – International Affairs Officer at the World Bank
  • Simon Maxwell – Senior Research Associate at the ODI
  • Ola Bello – Researcher at Spanish based think-tank FRIDE
  • Tamsyn Barton – Director-General for Operations outside of the EU at the European Investment Bank
  • Luc Bagur - Head of Unit, General Coordination, DEVCO at the European Commission
  • Jeske van Seters - Deputy Programme Manager Food Security at the European Centre for Development Policy Management
  • Mario Negre – Researcher at German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)
  • Paul Engel - Director of the European Centre for Policy Development Management
  • Rilli Lappalainen – Secretary General of the Finnish NGO platform Kehys

The European Commission’s new proposed development strategy – Agenda for Change – puts ‘inclusive and sustainable growth for human development’ at its centre. At the 2012 European Development Days conference, the European Think-Tanks Group hosted a high-level panel debate putting the word ‘inclusive’ under the spotlight, focusing specifically on the challenge to EU development policy posed by inequality in developing countries.

Read the panel report here.

The European Commission’s new proposed development strategy – Agenda for Change – puts ‘inclusive and sustainable growth for human development’ at its centre. At the 2012 European Development Days conference, the European Think-Tanks Group hosted a high-level panel debate putting the word ‘inclusive’ under the spotlight, focusing specifically on the challenge to EU development policy posed by inequality in developing countries.

Watch the debate here.

Click here to read the EDCSP team’s monthly update for June.

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

The European Think-Tanks Group, four of Europe’s leading think-tanks have published a joint briefing paper:

The EU’s Multi-Annual Financial Framework post-2013: Options for EU development cooperation

 As negotiations around Europe’s post-2013 multi-annual financial framework (MFF) begin, there are major questions around the comparative advantage of a Europe-wide approach to development assistance, and the role of the EU in the future global aid architecture. What should this aid be for? How should it be managed? How can European aid adapt to a development landscape that is going through such rapid change, and address current and emerging global challenges?
The paper reviews this landscape and proposes and analyses a set of options on:

    1. Rethinking priorities and assistance towards MICs and emerging economies;
    2. Ensuring enough flexibility to respond to unforeseen needs;
    3. Dealing with climate finance;
    4. Ensuring adequate long-term funding to strengthen security and development linkages;
    5. Budgetising or maintaining a separate European Development Fund.

The European Think-Tanks Group have published a new paper on EU Blending Facilities: Implications for Future Governance Options

The paper offers an independent contribution to the European Union’s (EU) 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.  To read the full paper, click here

The European Think-Tanks Group is made up of DIE, ECDPM, FRIDE and ODI

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.

The European Think-Tanks Group participated in the 2010 European Development Days (EDD) held in Brussels, 6-7 December.

Researchers from DIE, ECDPM, FRIDE and ODI were on hand at a joint stand in the EDD ‘Development Village’ to highlight the work of the group and showcase a selection of publications.  The stand attracted a lot of interest, with the Group’s Memorandum ‘New Challenges, New Beginnings’ being particularly popular and the interactive ‘EU swingometer’ getting lots of votes.

The European Think-Tanks Group also organised two private meetings for  a group of around 60 Directors-General from the Member States, European Commission senior officials, Parliamentarians, academics and NGO Directors, to debate the future shape and direction of EU development cooperation, as well as discuss some of the key issues on the current EU development agenda.

To read the report on the EDD, click here

On 3rd – 5th November, ODI hosted a group of 20 researchers from the European Think-Tanks Group for an EU ‘bootcamp’.

Young researchers from DIE, ECDPM, FRIDE and ODI came together for three days of intense training, brainstorming and planning. The purpose of the workshop was to strengthen ties between the institutes, build joint capacity for engaging with Europe and lay the ground for future collaborative research projects. (more…)

Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, has responded to the European Think Tanks’ Open Letter of May.

Read his response here.

The European Commission, the European Parliament and the Spanish EU Presidency reached a compromise last week on the European External Action Service (EEAS). Formal approval by the European Parliament is expected early next month, and a formal Council decision to implement the service is expected this autumn.

The deal on the EEAS puts an end to months of in-fighting, turf wars and protracted negotiations.  How has the EU’s contribution to development cooperation fared in the final deal?   (more…)

Today, the European Think Tanks Group – ODI, ECDPM, DIE and FRIDE – published a policy brief, Development-proofing the EEAS.  The brief takes the blueprint on the EEAS agreed by the General Affairs Council as a starting point, builds on the four key priorities set out in the Think Tanks Group’s Open Letter and offers a set of proposals that address some of the ‘how’ questions in the implementation phase.

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…)

New Challenges, New BeginningsAs the new European Commission takes office in Brussels and gives further shape to institutional innovations propelled by the Lisbon Treaty, four leading think-tanks have called for a new impetus to tackle today’s global challenges. The report – ‘New Challenges, New Beginnings: Next Steps in European Development Cooperation’ – is the result of a collaboration between ODI (UK), FRIDE (Spain), German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE, Germany) and ECDPM (Netherlands).

(more…)

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 30 other followers