Commission staff working document

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

SEC(2009) 1137 final

Accompanying the

1. Introduction Error: Reference source not found

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2.1. General commitment to Policy Coherence for Development Error: Reference source not found

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1.Introduction

Against this background, realising that its policies in areas other than development were having some unintended impacts on third countries and building on the OECD work in this area, the Union formulated a concept of Policy Coherence for Development aimed at strengthening synergies between those non-aid polices and its development objectives. The idea was that carefully designed and implemented EU policies would generally lead to increased effectiveness of development aid and non-aid policies, and to efficient use of resources, by limiting policy incoherence and developing synergies.

To this end, the EU committed itself to PCD in twelve policy areas¹ in 2005 and has endeavoured to strengthen PCD procedures, instruments and mechanisms at all levels since then. These efforts were formally embedded in the European Consensus on Development adopted in December 2005² and a first progress report on PCD in the Union, setting out the views and expertise of the Member States, was issued by the Commission in September 2007³, as requested by the Council in May 2005.

The first report showed what the Union had done in organisational terms and in the twelve policy areas, highlighting specific aspects for each policy domain, acknowledging progress and setbacks, identifying outstanding issues and providing a comprehensive overview. The report was used to improve PCD awareness in the EU through debates and discussions in a number of fora and in different countries. Overall, the document was welcomed by many as a valuable attempt to take stock of PCD endeavours in the EU confirming the EU policy commitment to PCD and reinforcing its lead role at international level.

Building on the 2007 report's findings and recommendations, the Commission elaborated on PCD issues in four thematic areas (Migration, Research, Climate Change and Energy) in a Staff Working Paper published in April 2008. Tying in with the Commission Communication on speeding up the achievement of MDGs⁴, the paper, which resulted from a in-depth consultation of interested partners⁵, provided some options for drawing up development friendly policies in the four areas of focus.

The debate that ensued from the 2007 PCD report and the Staff Working Paper of April 2008, together with discussions with civil society and international organisations on PCD issues (Civil society meeting on development and coherence issues, the OECD DAC reflection exercises etc.) and the renewed focus on MDG in 2007/8 led to a rethinking of the EU PCD methodology for the 2009 reporting exercise and to an increased focus on the impact on developing countries.

With the positive experience of 2007 in mind, the 2009 report takes a two-pronged approach to the subject matter while integrating some evidence-based PCD.. An updated analysis of policy changes has been compiled, based on contributions by Member States and the various Commission services. As such, the 2009 report continues to reflect EU-wide endeavours to promote PCD at national, EU and international levels.

In addition however, the 2009 report presents an overall conceptual framework linking the 12 EU policies to the MDGs in developing countries and gives details of three case studies in developing countries and specifically in Africa, given the particularly dramatic situation therewith regard to MDGs. Two case studies focus on MDGs (MDG1 on hunger and MDG6 on the fight against HIV/Aids) in three developing countries (Senegal, Ethiopia, Mozambique for MDG1; Rwanda, Zambia, Tanzania for MDG6), the third case concentrates on the Joint Africa-EU Strategy as a framework with strong PCD potential.

With a strong focus on the impact in developing countries, the EU efforts to boost policy coherence for development should gain credibility and political clout. By establishing potential and concrete linkages between PCD efforts and progress in reducing poverty in poor countries, the report should help to further raise awareness of PCD potential among policy makers and more generally among the wider public. In keeping with the original mandate, the present 2009 PCD report provides a basis for assessing PCD progress in the EU and serves as an information tool to generate debate and to obtain feedback from EU stakeholders. Further, the linkages to progress on MDGs and to the Africa-EU strategy provides feedback from developing countries and may promote the principles of PCD as a relevant development concept to be further explored in policy fora in the south.