Thematic meeting 2007
Title:
"European development cooperation: does more mean better?"
Organisation:
This meeting is organised by the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) in Maastricht and the Centre for International Development Issues Nijmegen (CIDIN) with support of the DPRN Task Force.
Date and venue:
Date: 28 September 2007, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Venue:
Bonnefantenmuseum, Avenue C'ramique 250, Maastricht (The Netherlands)
Topic:
Since 2005, various political agreements have called for more 'Europeanisation' of the Netherlands Development Cooperation. But how ambitious are these agreements? Is The Hague really prepared to work through Brussels? Is the Netherlands willing to delegate some of its sectors to the Commission and other European Member States, including those which are not so like-minded? Will the Netherlands continue its active stance in the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiation process?
In the process towards an increased division of labour and greater policy coherence as regards development, will the Netherlands choose to foster or delay further European integration?
In recent years, the European Member States and institutions have made serious efforts to ensure the continuing relevance of their development policies in a globalising world, and have together championed the present aid effectiveness agenda in various multilateral forums. The fact that the EU accounts for 52% of worldwide Official Development Assistance (ODA) and 80% of the scheduled increase in aid underlines the importance of accelerating efforts to ensure the coherence and complementarity of the Union's development policies and operations. It is with this objective in mind that the EU has taken steps at the highest political level by adopting the European Consensus on Development, as well as the recent voluntary Code of Conduct on its division of labour and the plan to deliver "more, faster and better" European aid. Parallel to these efforts, the EU has taken tentative steps to follow up the EU Consensus' commitment to ensure that the Union's non-aid policies "(…) can assist developing countries in achieving the Millennium Development Goals." One of these steps involves the publication later this year of the EU's first biennial report on how it has performed as regards promoting policy coherence for development in 12 policy areas determined by the Council in May 2005. Despite the policy progress made, ongoing processes such as the negotiation of the EPAs reflect the need for Europe to bring more community into its union.
The DPRN TaskForce therefore considered it opportune to organise a meeting to take an in-depth and critical look at the present state of affairs of European development cooperation, with a specific focus on the possible role(s) of research in further refining and implementing the commitments that have recently been made. Given that the Netherlands Ministry's Advisory Council on International Affairs has recently been asked to advise the minister on the possible implications for the Netherlands of the aforementioned progress in EU development policy, the seminar will also allow participants to exchange ideas that might complement this advice.
The seminar's goals:
- To share information, perceptions and experiences between interested researchers, policymakers and development practitioners concerning the present state of affairs of European Development Cooperation.
- To deepen the debate concerning the Dutch position on, and inputs to, European Development policy.
Target group:
Scientists, policymakers, development practitioners and representatives of the corporate sector from the Netherlands and Belgium.
Further information:
The DPRN thematic meeting is going to be held in English, is free of charge and is open to all registered participants working on, or with an interest in, European development cooperation.
For more details, see the provisional programme. Various relevant background documents will be made available on this website in due course. For hotel accommodation click here.
Contact persons: Niels Keijzer (0 43 3502911; e-mail nk[at]ecdpm.org), Paul Engel (pe[at]ecdpm.org), or Paul Hoebink (p.hoebink[at]maw.ru.nl).
Background documents:
The report of this meeting can be found here.
The presentations of this meeting can be found here.