by Frank De Wispelaere, Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Co-operation, Directorate General Development Cooperation
The EU has definitely set the tone in the area of development co-operation. The revised Cotonou Agreement, the European Consensus on Development, the EU commitments on aid effectiveness and the EU Strategy for Africa all add to the legitimacy of the EU as the world’s largest provider of ODA and trade partner of the developing world.
Most recently, the European Commission tabled a Communication on Governance. Its approach is certainly most appealing, mainly for two reasons.
Firstly, once endorsed by EU member states, it will not only be a solemn restatement of the EU’s commitment to governance but it will also stand for a common vision of the EU on governance and, more importantly, for a harmonized, common “praxis” on supporting governance.
Secondly, the incentive-based approach to programming within the 10th EDF looks attractive as it is bound to add quality to the political dialogue, one of the main ingredients of Cotonou’s partnership approach. It brings in a contractual approach rather than a punitive one, as well as a new instrument in the EU’s toolbox, the Governance Profile.
So far for the good news.
There might be, however, more gloomy news waiting around the corner. Just now, debates start unfolding about the first implementation of this common approach. The Commission set a programming timetable for the 10th EDF which requires Commission delegations to come up with draft Country Strategy Papers and Governance Profiles to the Commission’s Headquarters by the end of September. The drafts would be submitted to member states (the EDF committee) in the Spring. Some member States do have concerns. They fear that a one size fits all timing under EDF 10 will hamper consultation with partner countries and between EC and Member States and limit the impact of dialogue and aid. This in its turn would affect member states appetite for applying the same approach in their bilateral programs.
The rigid timing is not an artifact, as there is the sunset clause and the imperative need to have everything in place for the 10th EDF on January 1st 2008. We acknowledge that dialogue will not be over after the programming cycle. The annual operational reviews, the mid and end term reviews under the 10the EDF and most of all the more regular political dialogue meetings on commitments and achievements, will inevitably deepen and thus affect the quality of the approach. We have an open mind, as “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”. We do however hope that we will not just be able to discuss CSPs and governance profiles with the Commission but also lessons learned from this common approach on governance. We hope that the Technical group on Joint Programming, a laudable initiative by the Commission, will take stock of experiences, setbacks, bottlenecks, challenges and gains… and that Commission and Member States will have an opportunity to address them jointly, at ambassadors and ministerial level maybe? We need to find a way for learning about this “praxis”, not just in the field, but also at our mutual Headquarters….
Source: EU-Africa e-alert – No. 2 / October 2006
