Nielson unveils blueprint for development policy overhaul

Date: 23/03/2000

By Gareth Harding

THE European Commission will outline plans next week for the biggest ever shake-up in the EU's development policy, in a bid to cut out waste and bring more coherence to its much-criticised €9-billion aid budget.

Development Commissioner Poul Nielson says the Union's aid effort has "lagged behind in the past" and the strategy paper is designed to "bring the EU's development cooperation into line with mainstream thinking".

The long-awaited document, which has been drawn up by the Commission's development directorate-general, is likely to call for the EU's policy to focus on the twin goals of poverty alleviation and integrating third-world countries into the global economy.

It is also expected to support calls from a number of Union member states for a greater share of EU aid to be channelled to the world's poorest nations. Nielson told European Voice this week that this was "politically speaking the most important proposal" in the document.

The latest draft of the report echoes recent criticism of the EU's development policy from MEPs, governments and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

In it, Nielson warns that the objectives of the Union's policy are "too numerous and too vague," that the Commission's aid system is "too complex and fragmented", that resources are inadequate and that the EU's potential to influence events is "grossly under-exploited" given the size of its aid budget.

"At the very least," states the paper, "the Community must iron out inconsistencies between development policy and other policies" such as trade, agriculture and the environment.

Nielson believes the EU's aid budget should be increased, but adds that both a "qualitative and quantative lift" is needed to drag its development policy out of its current morass. The former Danish development minister argues that in the past, Union aid has suffered from "over-rigid procedures, too little flexibility on the ground and a slowness to respond compared to the best donors".

At present, the EU has different development policies for different parts of the world. While respecting the need for adaptability, Nielson says the Union's efforts to help poorer countries would be made more visible and coherent if it adopted a common framework for policies and programmes in all geographical areas.

The Commissioner argues that the overarching objective of this plan should be poverty reduction. But it should also promote sustainable development, equality between the sexes, regional cooperation, integration of markets into the world economy, democratisation and conflict prevention.

The report states that, given the meagre resources available to it, the EU should focus its priorities on areas where it can bring 'added value' - such as trade and development, regional integration, transport, food security and emergency aid. It adds that this policy streamlining should be fully reflected within the Union's programmes within four years.

Nielson has promised to come forward with more specific proposals if the guidelines are adopted by EU development ministers when they next meet in May. One of his priorities is to end the link between emergency aid and long-term development assistance so that the Union does not "accumulate an impossible number of commitments" around the world. The Commissioner also wants to make swift progress in focusing the EU's development priorities. "Prioritising is becoming more and more important as the global flow of resources decreases," he said.

Development ministers, who called on the Commission to draw up a strategy paper two years ago, are likely to take on board many of Nielson's ideas in a resolution their officials are now drafting.

But development groups are unimpressed. Simon Stocker of the Brussels-based organisation Eurostep attacked the draft paper for providing "a nice sounding analysis without any substance". He claimed everything in the paper had "been said before" and insisted that it was "high time the Commission was more specific in how to achieve its strategies".

The European Commission is to outline plans for the biggest ever shake-up in the EU's development policy, in a bid to cut out waste and bring more coherence to its much-criticised 9-billion euro aid budget.