Emphasis on Trade and Development in the GAERC Meeting in Luxemburg

The meeting of Foreign and Development Ministers in Luxemburg 16-17.10 did not give real boost to the improvement of policy coherence for development (PCD) in the EU. The ministers discussed linkages between trade and development and how to better integrate development concerns in Council decision-making. A joint session for Trade and Development Ministers was also organised for the first time in EU history.

The NGDOs are pleased that policy coherence for development was up for discussion in the Council, but hope that, instead of speeches, EU would implement the existing coherence commitments. Besides trade policy, also other policy sectors, such as security and migration, must be taken into account.

“We want to see mechanisms in action that help to integrate development objectives into other EU policies. Principles must become reality so that trade or security policies no longer drown out development policy”, says Rilli Lappalainen, Secretary General for The Finnish NGDO Platform to the EU, KEHYS.

The NGDOs are pleased with the Council’s aim to strengthen the involvement of developing countries and civil society in improving and extending existing consultative processes on the development dimension of non-development policies.

Aid for trade was discussed in a joint session of the ministers for trade and development on Monday morning. According to Paula Lehtomäki, the Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, an aid for trade strategy for the European Union will be created.

KEHYS is pleased that the Trade and Development Ministers sat around the same table. The joint meeting is a step to the right direction. “However, decisions affecting development are made also in many other policy sectors. The need for policy coherence for development not only concerns trade and development, because trade alone will not make a change, Lappalainen points out.

It must also be ensured that discussions are not led according to trade conditions, which places the development aid angle in a secondary position.

During the Finnish EU presidency, the NGDOs have demanded for policy coherence for development, which means that decision-making in other policy sectors should respect the development goals. Development policy should be an independent policy sector and not subordinate to foreign, trade or security policies of the EU.

The NGDOs are pleased that the Council of the EU reached political agreement on the financing instrument for development cooperation. The agreement guarantees EUR 17 billion for EC development aid during the 2007-2013 period. The original proposition from the European Commission included a joint funding instrument for development and economic cooperation merging supposedly the priorities of delivering assistance to developing countries and industrialised countries into one instrument. The European NGDOs strongly opposed the Commission proposition.

For more information: Rilli Lappalainen Secretary General The Finnish NGDO Platform to the EU, KEHYS +358 50 561 3456