"Governance: Ownership, Incentives and Transparency" - Speech by EU Commissioner Michel

FR

Speech by Louis MICHEL, EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, "Governance: Ownership, Incentives and Transparency" at the Ministerial meetings of the Development Committee, Annual Meetings of the World Bank/IMF, Singapore

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Without decisive progress on governance, the Millennium Development Goals will not be achieved. The additional aid that has been promised will not deliver results. It is with great interest, therefore, that I welcome the World Bank's new strategy on governance and the fight against corruption. We must recognize, however, that the issue is sensitive and complex.

I have 3 strong convictions.

First, the need to avoid going in different directions. Each donor is in the process of strengthening its own policies in support of institutional reform, restoration of the state and democratic governance. But we now have a unique opportunity to develop a common policy basis by applying the Paris Agenda on Aid Effectiveness. Our harmonisation efforts should be comprehensive, not only applying to analytical and diagnostic tools, but also to our response strategies, including to countries with exceptional risks or fragile states.

My second conviction. Corruption is a symptom of the failure of the broader system of governance. Fight against corruption therefore has to be carried out through the consolidation of a State's capacities to assume its full functions.

Thus governance can not be limited to fight against corruption. It would be inefficient, superficial and non-sustainable.

Finally, my third conviction. I favour dialogue and positive incentives rather than sanctions and conditionality.

When confronted with problems of weak governance, or when our prognosis indicates a need for reform, the approach must be gradual, transparent and based on ownership - this is the only principle that can ensure the success of such a strategy.

That is why I have some doubts on the appropriateness of a qualitative ranking of countries. I do understand the logic of it, but it seems too strictly rational to be fully workable.

When the political will is present, and that is more and more often the case, it is crucial that the donors support politically and financially the path of reforms. That is why the European Commission has decided to grant an additional financial support to the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. This grant will be attributed to those countries that present an ambitious, relevant and credible reform. To this end, we have established an envelope of 3 billion Euros¹. Our approach is totally respectful of our partner countries' own initiatives, and we want, in this context, to support the NePAD and African Unions "African Peer Review Mechanism".

To conclude, I would like to express the full commitment of the European Commission to develop jointly an ambitious and politically committed strategy. We must help developing countries to develop the institutional, economic and political capacities. Without these capacities, our aid policies will be limited essentially to charitable actions with inefficient outcomes.


¹The 10th EDF amounts to 22.682 billion euros for the period 2008-2013.

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