Communication: Proposal for a new European Consensus on Development – Our world, our dignity, our future

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Series Details (2016) 740 final (22.11.16)
Publication Date 22/11/2016
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The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the 2030 Agenda), adopted by the United Nations in September 2015, represents a new and ambitious framework to achieve sustainable development and poverty eradication. The core of the 2030 Agenda is the set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and associated targets. Consistent with its active part in the negotiations, the EU should play a leading role in implementing the Agenda.

A number of initiatives are being taken forward for this purpose. The Commission Communication on Next steps for a sustainable European future: European action for sustainability shows the significance of the SDGs for Europe and explains how the EU contributes to reaching them, including through EU external action. The Global Strategy on the EU's Foreign and Security Policy, which provides a vision for Europe's engagement in the world, highlights the importance of the SDGs in the context of EU external action. In addition, the 2030 Agenda needs to be incorporated into the Union's development cooperation policy, and in particular by revising the shared vision of the EU institutions and the Member States set out in the Consensus on Development, which was signed in 2005 and pursued the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

In relation to development cooperation policy, both the Union and its Member States are obliged to comply with the commitments and take account of the objectives they have approved in the context of the United Nations. In line with the procedure followed in 2005, this Commission Communication proposes a new Consensus on Development. It aims to update the development response to current global challenges and to promote the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in partnership with developing countries, taking account of the new framework provided by the Lisbon Treaty. It reflects the analysis of the responses to the online public consultation held from May to August 2016, other consultative and outreach discussions and further preparatory assessment work.

Given its broad policy scope, the objective of contributing to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in developing countries can best be met through enhancing coordination of the development cooperation policies of the EU and its Member States. The purpose of the proposed new European Consensus on Development aligned with the new Agenda, with a shared vision and common long-term orientations is to provide the framework for the common approach to development cooperation policy that will be applied by the EU and its Member States. The Commission asks the Council and the Parliament to adopt the new Consensus on Development, in the form of a Joint statement by the Council and the representatives of the governments of the Member States meeting within the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission.

Source Link Link to Main Source http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2016:740:FIN
Related Links
ESO: Background information: Sustainable development: EU sets out its priorities http://www.europeansources.info/record/sustainable-development-eu-sets-out-its-priorities/
EUR-Lex: SWD(2016)387: Assessing the 2005 European Consensus on Development http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2016:387:FIN
EUR-Lex: SWD(2016)388: Assessing the 2005 European Consensus on Development - Executive summary http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2016:388:FIN
EUR-Lex: SWD(2016)389: Synopsis report summarising the main results of the consultation on the new European Consensus on Development http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2016:389:FIN

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