Summary: November 11, 2002: Speech by Poul Nielson, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, on "World Solidarity and Global Stability: The role of the EU Development Policy" at Prague University of Economics (Prague)
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is now over a year since the tragic 11 September attacks made us all more aware that the world is not a safe place while perverse inequalities prevail.
International co-operation, with co-operation for development as an essential part of it, is key in promoting lasting peace and security.
The development model championed by the rich is economically, socially and environmentally unsustainable.
The results of the sustainability crisis we face are those of a widening gap between the rich and the poor and an exploitation of natural resources beyond their limits. As a consequence, non-inclusive globalization has deepened socio-economic and political instabilities.
Market forces drive globalization while there is a global governance gap to make it sustainable.
The European Union can play a leading role in giving an answer to these challenges. It is the major world trading partner and the world's largest donor of development assistance. We have grown to recognize that lasting prosperity depends on pursuing mutually reinforcing strategies for stable economic growth, social development and environmental protection. We believe we can share this experience in addressing the challenges at the global level. And we need to do it by embracing all
stakeholders.
We also need to put our house in order. We need to move to a more sustainable production and consumption pattern to relieve pressure on the world's natural resources. Developing countries need to move towards domestic policies aiming at greater internal equity and policies, which allow a further integration into a fairer global economy.
In this respect, the Doha development Agenda represents a fundamentally different approach to trade policy around an overarching sustainable development objective. It will hopefully mean that globalization takes place in a broader regulatory framework, helping countries manage and maximize the benefit of reforms.
The European Union is committed to support countries obtaining a larger share in world trade. This will require opening markets of the industrialized countries for products from the South, including a reduction of world-price-depressing agricultural subsidies.
The International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey complemented Doha by reinforcing the essential role of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA). The International Community committed itself anew to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. ODA was recognized as critical to support the autonomous efforts of developing countries, notably the poorest ones. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund had calculated that the Millennium Development Goals endorsed
unanimously by the international community will require a doubling of existing aid.
The EU Member States decided to collectively work towards an increase in ODA towards reaching the 0.7% ODA/GNI UN target by 2007. Those EU member states that have not yet reached the 0.7% target have committed themselves to increasing their ODA volume at least to 0,33% in the next four years so that collectively an EU average of 0.39% is reached by 2006.
In fact by having done the LDC conference, the Doha development round and Monterrey on funding, we saw that we had a chance to make Johannesburg a conference on sustainable development, and not to redo Doha or Monterey. We came out of Johannesburg with specific initiatives announced there by the EU, such as on water and energy. We will also take up special activities to follow up on the decisions in Johannesburg on trying to recreate a balance as far as the maritime resources of this world are
concerned.
These milestones of the last twelve months build on a longstanding commitment from the European Union to support the developing world.
Europe's Development Co-operation Policy
Since its very early days of the Treaty of Rome, the European Union made provision for association with countries which decided to maintain close links with the European Community after gaining independence. These links have taken the shape of various conventions with the countries of Africa, Caribbean and Pacific, the so-called ACP. In parallel, the Community has concluded a comprehensive network of agreements with other regions of the developing world, especially Asia and Latin America, the
South and East Mediterranean. The global objectives of these agreements are similar: alleviation of poverty and integration into the global world economy.
As I mentioned earlier, the European Union is now the major actor in international co-operation and development assistance. In total, the European Union provides about 50% of the international ODA, and mostly in the form of grants. It is also the largest donor in humanitarian aid.
The EU citizens believe that it is politically and morally unacceptable that more than one billion men, women and children of the world's population have to subsist on less than one Euro per day, that they have insufficient food and suffer malnutrition, no access to clean water, to basic education, to essential health care.
In its statement on Development Policy the Community and the Member States adopted in November 2000 clear guidelines for development co-operation and identified six priority areas where assistance can bring about added value. These are trade and development, regional integration, macroeconomic support and access to social services, transport, food security and sustainable rural development, and institutional capacity building and good governance.
We also look into essential cross cutting issues into every programme: gender equality, respect for human rights and environmental sustainability.
I am certain that the new Member States, the Czech Republic amongst, will influence the future direction of the development policy in the long term. Your direct experience of political and economic transition, will enrich the EU's collective understanding of some of the problems experienced by developing and transition countries elsewhere. Having been recipients of external assistance over the past 10 years yourselves, you will contribute to the principle of more efficient aid delivery.
The European Commission recommended on 9 October 2002 that the negotiations on accession to the European Union should be concluded by the end of this year with ten countries, including the Check Republic. The Commission considers that these countries will be ready for membership from the beginning of 2004. These recommendations were endorsed by the European Council meeting in Brussels on 24-25 October.
We are certain that the New Member States, the Czech republic amongst, will bring to an enlarged EU enormous opportunities for the EU itself, for its relations with developing countries, for the world as a whole.
Humanitarian Aid: ECHO as a major international donor
2002 once again is a year characterized by dire emergencies requiring rapid and thorough responses. The European Union is a key actor in the global aid system. The European Commission is actively involved in the provision of humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable victims in the world.
The Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) is the service responsible for the humanitarian assistance in third countries, through which the Commission expresses the concrete solidarity of the European Union with those affected by conflicts or disasters, both natural and man-made, all over the world.
ECHO's core mandate is to fund the coordinated delivery of humanitarian assistance and protection through partner humanitarian organizations (NGOs, the UN specialized agencies, the Red Cross family) in order to save and preserve life, reduce suffering and safeguard the integrity and the dignity of the populations in third countries affected by humanitarian natural or man-made crises, with the final aim to facilitate their return to self-sufficiency. Beyond the direct response to humanitarian
needs in crisis situations, ECHO works at reducing vulnerability in high risk natural disaster prone areas. ECHO's policy also aims at establishing, at international level, a more integrated and sustainable approach to the solution of crises of a complex nature.
ECHO is not an implementing agency but an active donor, fully involved in programming aspects and policy development in the field of humanitarian aid. The Humanitarian interventions are governed by the basic principles of neutrality and impartiality. In keeping with the human values promoted by the European Union, aid is provided irrespective of ethnic, religious or political affiliation. It is needs-based, non-discriminatory, focused on the most vulnerable. ECHO considers as its first duty
towards the victims its major stakeholders to ensure that aid is delivered in the most relevant, effective and rapid manner. The Office is committed to make the most efficient use of available resources and to transparency and accountability for the use of Community funds.
ECHO is one of the largest single donors of humanitarian assistance in the world: only in 2001 ECHO alone provided 544 million € for humanitarian projects in about sixty countries reaching millions of beneficiaries.
Co-ordination and LRRD
Co-ordination, active co-operation and mutual support are paramount if we want Europe to reinforce and implement its solidarity in favor of the most vulnerable people. Member States, partners and Commission services are key players in this sense. I attach utmost importance to improving the linkage between relief, rehabilitation and development, in order to ensure the filling of gaps from emergency to longer-term programmes. ECHO is closely working with other Commission services, DG Development,
EuropeAid and DG Relex to achieve this, and I am giving full support to these efforts.
The EU and enlargement
Before I finish, I would like to say a few words on the EU's enlargement.
Enlargement is one of the most important opportunities for the European Union at the beginning of the 21st century. It is a unique, historic task to further the integration of the continent by peaceful means, extending a zone of stability and prosperity to new members.
The European Union must continue to deliver tangible benefits to the citizens of Europe and ensure its global responsibility, promoting peace and security, internally as well as externally.
The fundamental values that are at the basis of the European project: namely democracy, human rights, open dialogue and a common approach to solving common problems, are values that we must promote globally.
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