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Contributions from
the Column
Studies and reports
International ODA rate is far from its peak value
EU enlargement – an opportunity for European development policy
Energy turning point: efficiency revolution and break-even charges
After the war: what form of government for Iraq?
The small arms problem cannot be solved in isolation
Pro-poor growth to reduce poverty
Foreign investment: democracies preferred?
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[ InWEnt Policy Dialogue ]
EU enlargement – an opportunity for European development policy
What impacts will European Union enlargement have on European development policy? This question was the focus of an international policy dialogue organised on invitation by German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul by the German Development Ministry BMZ and by the InWEnt Development Policy Forum in Berlin, April 7-8. The dialogue contributed to the preparation for a session of the special representatives for development policy of all 25 present and future EU member countries in Brussels at the beginning of May and an informal meeting of EU development ministers in Greece in June.
After its enlargement the EU will be the world's largest integrated market. It will have a 20 per cent share of the world market and its contribution to global gross product will be 25 per cent. Not only Europe's economic importance will grow, but also its developmental significance. The EU already inputs half of all international funds provided for development cooperation. Wieczorek-Zeul said enlargement was both a challenge and a great opportunity for European development policy. She said she set great hopes on the new experience the accession countries could contribute to it.
A central result of the InWEnt policy dialogue was that all representatives of the 10 accession countries approved of the fundamentals of European development policy to date – from the Millennium Goals as a benchmark through to the Cotonou Agreement. The key geographical areas of the new EU members' development cooperation will be the Balkans, Central Asia and the Caucasus, which the participants judged a good complementing of the present European policy.
There was also consensus that considerable efforts must still be made in the accession countries to convince their publics and parliaments of the need for development cooperation. For example, there is a significant need to catch up on provision of official development assistance (ODA). The average ODA rate of the future EU member countries is currently less than 0.05 per cent of their GDP. However, it is unrealistic to expect them to be able in the foreseeable future to fulfil the guidelines of the Monterrey Consensus on an ODA ratio of 0.33 per cent.
The dialogue participants agreed that increasing funds for development cooperation would not be the decisive question for future EU development policy. It was much more urgent to establish coherence between the EU's development, agricultural and trade policies. The (export) potential which a larger EU market would offer the developing countries would perhaps not be enough to offset their losses in the agricultural and textiles sectors due to the accession of their Eastern European competitors. Also, fears were expressed that in future investment would flow more strongly into the new EU countries rather than into the South.
Toward integration of the accession countries' development cooperation and adjustment of EU development policy to the new conditions under enlargement, the present EU members will among other things implement workshops at expert level and trainee programmes and offer individual consultancy for the new countries. Germany is currently preparing a cooperation package for the accession countries based on the results of the InWEnt policy dialogue and earlier conferences.
Klaus Krüger, Grit Schmalisch
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