CONCORD met the Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade and Development: the NGOs worried about the trade dominance in coherence disc

A delegation from CONCORD, the umbrella organisation for European NGDOs, met with Paula Lehtomäki, the Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade and Development on Sunday in Luxemburg, prior to the General Affairs and External Relations Council to be held on 16-17.10. Current developmental issues were addressed at the meeting: policy coherence for development, the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) currently negotiated between the EU and the ACP-countries and the recent Commission communication on good governance.

Finland was represented by the Finnish NGDO Platform to the EU, KEHYS’ Secretary general, Rilli Lappalainn. Lappalainen asked Lehtomäki for political leadership and strong will in promoting policy coherence for development and in implementing already existing commitments during the Finnish EU-presidency. Lappalainen accentuated the expertise of the civil society and the southern partners on the execution and follow-up of policy coherence for development.

Lappalainen was happy that, for the first time in EU history, the Ministers for Trade and Development will engage in a joint session. Lappalainen reminded though, that decisions affecting development are made in other policy areas as well. Trade alone will not make a difference. The delegation was also worried that the coherence questions are being discussed according to trade conditions, which puts the development aid angle in a secondary position. The NGOs underline, that policy coherence can only become an effective tool for poverty eradication when other policies support development policy.

Minister Lehtomäki thanked the NGOs for the active campaigning on policy coherence for development. She agreed with the delegation on the fact that policy coherence should be created with the support of all society actors.

The EPAs were also on the table for discussion. According to the Minister, the agreements will be fairly reasonable for the developing countries. The NGOs are strongly criticizing the EPAs of placing producers of developing countries in direct competition with producers enjoying EU-support. In addition, the EU has demanded the privatisation of basic services, such as education and health care. The EPA negotiations started in 2002 and the aim is for the contracts to take effect in the beginning of 2008.

Joanna Maycock (ActionAid Alliance), a member of board of CONCORD, brought about the NGOs’ concerns for the Commission’s good governance initiative. The NGOs are displeased with the preparation process for the initiative, which lacked consultation of other actors. According to Maycock, the Commission communication is unilaterally dictating the EU standards for good governance without the southern or the civil society perspectives. The Commission communication was published on 30th August and it presents more effective instruments for supporting good governance in the South. The Development Ministers will discuss the communication on 17th October.

CONCORD was also represented by Marc Maes from the Belgian 11.11.11 NGO coalition and Ester Asin from the CONCORD secretariat. CONCORD represents over 1600 European organisations for development and humanitarian aid. Kehys ry is its national platform in Finland.

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