A couple of decades into a prolific debate in both academic and policy circles, including within the EU over the last few years, the concept and terminology of fragile states remains vague and controversial. However, the debate has undoubtedly had its merits. It has raised awareness to the implications of state fragility and to the complexities of state building. It has played an important role too in focusing the attention of the international community on some of the most neglected countries and populations around the world. The fragile states debate has also brought attention to ...
EU Development Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, discussed the development cooperation aspects of the European Commission’s (EC) Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020 with members of the European Parliament’s Development Committee on 12 July. These strongly correspond to the proposals on the future of EU development policy the EC is currently considering, and aims to table in September. ECDPM’s Jeske van Seters provided an outline of the MFF’s development provisions in a previous Talking Points blog post, so we won’t here re-summarise the Commissioner’s presentation on this, but instead highlight additional points he made in the debate with ...
At its meeting on 13 July, the European Parliament’s Development Committee held an exchange of views with EC and civil society representatives to feed into the emerging EU position for the international High Level forum on Aid Effectiveness being held in Busan in November. The committee has prepared a draft report for adoption by the Parliament in the autumn calling, inter alia, for continued support for the aid effectiveness agenda, EU leadership and a focus on democratic ownership and accountability. EC proposals will be published in the first half of September. EU Development Ministers are ...
Last week, with little fanfare, not even a press release, the European Commission’s 2011 Annual Report and accompanying staff working paper annex on the European Union’s development and external assistance policies and their implementation in 2010 and the 2011 EU Donor Atlas were posted online. The 196-page annex to the annual report provides detailed information on the delivery of EU commitments, a geographical and thematic overview of implementation and an assessment of the management of aid for results. The EU Donor Atlas provides a detailed mapping of EU donor activities to facilitate planning and programming ...
The creation of the world’s newest state, South Sudan, on 9 July is the consequence of an overwhelming vote for secession in the Self-Determination Referendum held in January 2011 in southern Sudan - more than 99% of voters opted in favour of separation from the rest of the country. The referendum was part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005, after years of negotiation, by the Government of (North) Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) ending Sudan’s second civil war. CPA provisions include nationwide elections (held in 2010) followed by a ...
Over 60 institutional actors and individuals from various parts of Africa, the Caribbean, the Pacific, Europe and emerging economies participated in last week’s ECDPM 25th anniversary high-level seminar entitled: “Global changes, emerging players and evolving ACP-EU relations: towards a common agenda for action”. ECDPM’s Talking Points blog online discussion held in the run up to the seminar and a background paper served as the basis for the discussions at the event, which considered options for continued ACP-EU cooperation once the current ACP-EU Partnership Agreement (commonly referred to as the “Cotonou Agreement”) expires in 2020. A ...
Talking Points audio: ECDPM's Melissa Julian interviews Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Secretary General of the ACP Group.[ 24:17 ]Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
On 29 June, the Commission came out with a Communication on the EU financial framework for the period 2014 – 2020. The media around Europe particularly picked up on a proposal presented in the Communication to introduce a financial transactions tax and a new VAT to finance part of the EU budget. This will reduce the direct contributions from Member States, which are based on the countries’ Gross National Income (GNI) and their national VAT resources. What also caught attention is the proposed level of EU spending. The Commission presents a multi-annual financial framework (MFF) ...
During the next few months, a team of authors from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), the German Development Institute (DIE) and the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) will be busy with drafting the 2012 European Report on Development (ERD). Similar to the first two editions, this report will be prepared through a collaborative effort, to which many researchers from other institutions and parts of the world will contribute. The focus of this report will be on how natural resource management can promote inclusive and sustainable growth. Within this overall theme the report will ...
