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Commissioner Nielson's speech on "2003: The year ahead in EU development policy"

Mr Chairman,

Your Committee heard yesterday from the Greek Presidency of the Council of plans for the first half of this year. Let me give you this morning the Commission's perspective for the year ahead in the area of development. In doing so I express the hope that it will be a fruitful year for our co-operation and that by working together closely we can strengthen the European contribution to development.

Our plans for 2003 have to build on the work of recent years, starting with the Millennium development Goals and the agenda we set for ourselves in Doha, Monterrey and Johannesburg, the adoption two years ago of a new policy statement for European development co-operation and the reform of external assistance. For the Commission, this has to be a year devoted to implementation.

The priorities we set ourselves last year, particularly in health and education, but also in areas such as water and energy, remain priorities this year. The hard work of turning political commitments into results on the ground is not new, but needs to be intensified. It is not so much a case of moving from words to deeds, but rather moving to better words and bigger deeds.

Review of major issues from 2002

The Commission as a whole included development co-operation, with health and education as focal areas, among its priorities for 2002. During the year the Commission issued communications on both these areas. We look forward to Parliament's consideration of these communications. I hope you will find much to support as we have agreed on the importance of these sectors for poverty alleviation, even if we have not entirely resolved our differences on the appropriateness and effectiveness of budget support as a means to attain our objectives.

In health, we sought to establish, for the first time, a single community policy framework to guide investment in health, AIDS and population within the context of overall European assistance to developing countries.

In education and training, we stressed the vital importance of education in reducing poverty and presented a strategy involving support for basic education as first priority. A continued strong commitment to gender equality underpins the approach.

I am very pleased that in the Council's consideration of these communications last May, the Member States recalled their commitment to increase the volume of their development aid and declared that a substantial share of that increase should go to support for social development with special emphasis on improving health and education outcomes.

The Commission will follow closely the commitment to increase aid volumes and will also work to promote greater effectiveness of aid. The Community and Member States are committed to take concrete steps on co-ordination of policies and harmonisation of procedures before next year. The Commission made a far-reaching proposal in November on the untying of aid which should increase aid effectiveness and transparency. We look forward to the discussions with Member States. We are also challenging other international aid donors to go beyond the rather limited recommendations of the OECD Development Assistance Committee.

In keeping with the focussing of Community assistance on key areas for poverty reduction, the Commission presented a strategy for fighting rural poverty. This strategy has to address the many dimensions of rural poverty, including low incomes, access to productive assets and the weak political power of the rural poor.

A major question addressed by the Commission at the end of last year was the integration of migration issues in the Union's relations with third countries. I will return to this later when I answer the question put by Mrs Sauquillo.

Policy proposals for 2003

During the course of 2003, I expect the Commission to continue to refine our poverty reduction activity and to maintain a strong focus on implementing the priorities agreed in Monterrey and Johannesburg. On the basis of the Commission's Synthesis Report, the European Council will review at their meeting in March, the EU Strategy for Sustainable Development.

Following the launch of the EU Water Initiative and the signing of the EU/Africa partnership on water and sanitation during the World Summit, we are working with developing country partners to develop concrete activities to contribute to the achievement of targets on access to drinking water and sanitation and on integrated water resources management.

The EU Energy Initiative for Poverty Eradication and sustainable Development launched in Johannesburg will be achieved within the context of beneficiary country driven activities. It is important to note that these are EU initiatives and not Commission initiatives. This will be interesting and challenging.

Health, with a focus on the major communicable diseases will be a particular concern: Two years after its adoption, the Programme for Action on accelerated action against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis remains comprehensive, forward looking and coherent. A Communication updating progress on the programme will be presented to you in the first half of this year. Current trends indicate that the numbers of people affected, infected and dying from HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB is still on the increase.

Community spending on social infrastructure is planned to rise, dormant programmes have been re-directed, and spending has been better focused on priorities established by the Programme for Action. While support through country strategies evolves slowly, the commitments through global and regional instruments have increased significantly.

With regard to "increasing affordability", the Commission's strategy towards tiered pricing for essential pharmaceuticals in developing countries has started to yield tangible results. However, despite price reductions obtained since the adoption of the Programme for Action, it is still only the few who have access to care and medicines for HIV, effective TB and malaria interventions. The increased funding provided through the Global Fund should provide some of the extra support needed. The Commission has contributed € 120 million to cover the first two years of the Global Fund's operations and is an active Board Member. A further substantial contribution is planned for this year and next.

In terms of "increasing investment inresearch and development", substantial resources have been allocated from the Research Framework Programme. This should facilitate more effective and efficient co-operation between Europe and developing countries and therefore increase the potential to develop an AIDS and Malaria vaccine as soon as possible.

The Community's contribution to the HIP initiative of over 1.1 billion Euro was increased by a decision approved in December last for 125 million Euro from the EDF to meet the Community's existing commitment as a creditor. We are planning a further commitment during the course of this year.

The launching of the African Union in July 2002 could herald a new chapter in the history of the continent. The creation of the Union and integration of NEPAD as the operational programme of the African Union constitute a new framework for relations with Europe. Africa will be a focus this year with the holding of the EU-Africa Summit in Lisbon in April. I took part in the ministerial meeting in Burkina Faso in November and hope that the momentum gained there will allow a successful Summit.

Within the Union, we look forward to colleagues from the accession countries joining us for discussions at the ACP-EU Council in May and among development ministers in June.

We are also looking at constitutional issues. In this context we believe that sustainable development and poverty reduction both within and outside the European Union should be explicitly included among the general objectives of the EU. The external dimension of EU policies, in particular the synergies and interactions with development co-operation, should be systematically considered. Development policy must be recognised as an essential component of the EU's external relations and must clearly aim at the eradication of poverty, through a process of sustainable development, in co-operation and solidarity with developing countries.

During this year, the Commission will continue to implement the policy statement on development co-operation and outline strategies for its better implementation. We will present communications on those priority areas which have not been the subject of recent work. We will present a paper on governance to define a consistent and common EU approach to governance-related issues. Governance is a fundamental issue for poverty reduction. The way public functions are carried out as well as the way public resources and public regulatory powers are used, can have a substantial impact on poverty.

We will also address regional integration. The EU has long advocated that national policies should take into account the regional context. Support for regional integration has been focussed on helping countries to benefit more from trade, certainly with the EU and with the rest of the world, but also based on emerging and growing regional markets.

The Commission is also preparing communications on forest law enforcement, governance and trade in which we outline measures to be taken to prohibit the import of illegal wood and on the reform of state-owned enterprises in developing countries.

Update on reform of external assistance

As to the reform of external assistance launched in May 2000 it has been a huge undertaking and, although we still face considerable challenges, there are signs that it is having a positive impact and that Community aid is better managed and achieving better results.

Given the magnitude of the reform, the results in terms of improvement of quality and speed of delivery cannot be fully visible in a short period of time.

• Important milestones can be identified, such as:
  
  
• The creation of the EuropeAid Co-operation Office on 1 January 2001.
  
  
• A massive deconcentration of management responsibilities to nearly 50 delegations.
  
  
• The dismantling of technical assistance offices.
  
  
• The overhaul of budgetary rules, computer systems, contracting and tendering procedures and
  
  
• The use of DAC standards for reporting
  
  
• The establishment of an Annual Report to give a comprehensive overview of external assistance.

The reform will continue apace in 2003 and key areas of action will be to pursue the administrative reform of the Unified External Service and the completion of deconcentration.

Cotonou

The entry into force of the Cotonou Agreement has been too long delayed, but we expect Belgium as the last country to complete their approval of the 9th EDF shortly and that funds will be available from March or April. At last the improved programming and broad dialogue with civil society will start to demonstrate their effects in better implementation. I have not hesitated say that this delay is an embarrassment for Europe. I look forward to this problem being behind us.

Later this year the Commission will present a communication presenting the case for the budgetisation of the EDF. This case needs no explaining to Parliament which is very conscious of the lack of parliamentary oversight under the current arrangements.

We have recently drawn on our experience with civil society consultation, not least in the Cotonou context, to present a Communication on the participation of non-state actors in Community development policy generally. I have had regular meetings with NGOs and I believe that they were useful in the preparation of this long awaited policy document. I would like, also, to draw your attention to a staff working paper on the implementation of the common framework for Country Strategy papers which sets out progress made in programming. It also addresses challenges to strive to further improve quality and efficiency and to address better the problem of coherence. In the last few years we have adopted a much more active approach on coherence issues and have real progress to show for it.

Legislative proposals

Finally, on legislation, the programme is also full with proposals, new or amended for regulations due on integration of gender issues, decentralised co-operation, human rights and democracy and co-operation with South Africa. You already have on your table the regulations on co-operation with Asia and Latin America countries, on aid for poverty related diseases and for reproductive and sexual health.

The regulation on aid for AIDS, Malaria and TBwill give us a legal basis to fund innovative interventions and provide services and commodities to the poorest populations. The increased financial framework for the implementation of this regulation recognises the need for more action on the ground and at international level to tackle poverty-related diseases and achieve the Millennium Development Goals. We look forward to the vote on this regulation in Plenary next week.

As to the Regulation on "aid for policies and actions on reproductive and sexual health and rights in developing countries", I should recall that every year more than half a million women die in pregnancy and childbirth, overwhelmingly in developing countries. Such women are in the prime of life and most already have young children when they die. The inequalities are stark: the life-time risk of maternal death is 1 in 11 in parts of East Africa, while it is only around 1 in 5000 in Southern Europe. This situation is unacceptable.

It is therefore particularly disheartening to me that rather than focussing on how we can work to improve reproductive health, the relevant Commission services have spent much of their time responding to a concerted campaign spreading misinformation on the issue of abortion and Commission policy. I have recently outlined the Community's position on abortion in a letter to MEPs and have posted the letter on the Commission's website. I reiterate that the Commission's development policy on abortion is based on a set of principles first adopted at the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development and endorsed by 180 countries including the Member States of the Union.

The Regulation on reproductive and sexual health and rights outlines our policies in this area and provides the legal basis for future funding of the budget-line for aid for population and reproductive health care. These funds will be available to support NGOs and international agencies implement innovative programmes in reproductive health. The need for this is very real and I am convinced of the case to increase funding.

Mr Chairman,

As we edge ever nearer to 2015 and the reckoning on targets set in the Millennium Development Goals, we have much to do. I count on the support of you and your committee to promote the case for development.

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