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European Parliament resolution of 14 February 2017 on the revision of the European Consensus on Development (2016/2094(INI))

OJ C 252, 18.7.2018, p. 62–77 (BG, ES, CS, DA, DE, ET, EL, EN, FR, HR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, FI, SV)

Date of document:: 14/02/2017; Date of vote
Date of vote:: 14/02/2017
Date of debate:: 13/02/2017

Author:: European Parliament, Committee on Development
Form:: Own-initiative resolution
Parliamentary term:: Eighth legislature
Internal reference:: 2016/2094(INI)
Session:: 2016-2017

Treaty:

Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

Legal basis:

Link

Select all documents mentioning this document

Instruments cited:

Link

EUROVOC descriptor:

Subject matter:

Development cooperation

Directory code:

11.70.10.00 External relations / Development policy / General

HTML

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Official Journal

18.7.2018

Official Journal of the European Union

C 252/62

P8_TA(2017)0026

Revision of the European Consensus on Development

European Parliament resolution of 14 February 2017 on the revision of the European Consensus on Development (2016/2094(INI))

(2018/C 252/08)

The European Parliament,

—	having regard to the European Consensus on Development of December 2005 (1),

—	having regard to the Busan Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (2) and the EU Common Position for the second High-Level Meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC) held in Nairobi (from 28 November to 1 December 2016) (3),

—	having regard to the outcome document of the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness of December 2011, which launched the GPEDC,

—	having regard to the 2030 Agenda, entitled ‘Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, adopted at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit of 25 September 2015 in New York (4),

—	having regard to the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development (5),

—	having regard to the Dili Declaration of 10 April 2010, on peace-building and state-building, and to the ‘New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States’ launched on 30 November 2011,

—	having regard to the Paris (COP21) Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted on 12 December 2015 (6),

—	having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘Increasing the impact of EU Development Policy: an Agenda for Change’ (COM(2011)0637),

—	having regard to the World Humanitarian Summit of 23-24 May 2016 in Istanbul and its Commitments to Action (7),

—	having regard to the New Urban Agenda adopted at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) held from 17 to 20 October 2016 in Quito, Ecuador (8),

—	having regard to the OECD/UNDP 2014 progress report entitled ‘Making Development Cooperation More Effective’ (9),

—

having regard to Article 208 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) on development cooperation, which states that ‘the Union’s development cooperation policy and that of the Member States complement and reinforce each other’, and which defines the reduction and eradication of poverty as the primary objective of EU development policy,

—	having regard to the October 2012 Council conclusions on the roots of democracy and sustainable development: Europe’s engagement with civil society in external relations,

—	having regard to the EU Code of Conduct on Complementarity and Division of Labour in Development Policy (10),

—	having regard to the EU Council conclusions of 19 May 2014 on a rights-based approach to development cooperation, encompassing all human rights (11),

—	having regard to the Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy published in June 2016 (12),

—	having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), signed and ratified by the EU in 2011, and to the UN Concluding Observations on the implementation of the CRPD,

—	having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘Trade for all: towards a more responsible trade and investment policy’ (COM(2015)0497),

—	having regard to the EU Gender Action Plan 2016-2020 and to the Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy (2015-2019),

—

having regard to its previous resolutions, in particular those of 17 November 2005 on the proposal for a Joint Declaration by the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission on the European Development Policy ‘The European Consensus’ (13), of 5 July 2011 on increasing the impact of EU development policy (14), of 11 December 2013 on EU donor coordination on development aid (15), of 25 November 2014 on the EU and the global development framework after 2015 (16), of 19 May 2015 on financing for development (17), of 8 July 2015 on tax avoidance and tax evasion as challenges for governance, social protection and development in developing countries (18), of 14 April 2016 on the private sector and development (19), of 12 May 2016 on the follow-up to and review of the 2030 Agenda (20), of 7 June 2016 on the EU 2015 Report on Policy Coherence for Development (21) and of 22 November 2016 on increasing the effectiveness of development cooperation (22),

—

having regard to the Joint Staff Working Document on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: Transforming the Lives of Girls and Women through EU External Relations 2016-2020 (SWD(2015)0182) and to the Council conclusions of 26 October 2015 in which the corresponding Gender Action Plan 2016-2020 is endorsed,

—	having regard to the new framework for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: Transforming the Lives of Girls and Women through EU External Relations (2016-2020),

—	having regard to its resolution of 5 July 2016 on a new forward-looking and innovative future strategy for trade and investment (23),

—	having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and its four fundamental principles of non-discrimination (Article 2), best interests of the child (Article 3), survival, development and protection (Article 6) and participation (Article 12),

—

having regard to the forthcoming report of its Committee on Foreign Affairs and of its Committee on Development on addressing refugee and migrant movements: the role of EU external action (2015/2342(INI)) and to its resolution of 22 November 2016 on increasing the effectiveness of development cooperation (24),

—	having regard to Rule 52 of its Rules of Procedure,

—	having regard to the report of the Committee on Development (A8-0020/2017),

whereas a revision of the European Consensus on Development is timely and necessary considering the changed external framework, including the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris COP21 Agreement on climate change, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing for development and the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, new or increasing global challenges such as climate change, the context of migration, more diversified developing countries with diverse and specific development needs, emerging donors and new global actors, shrinking space for civil society organisations, and internal EU changes, including those arising from the Treaty of Lisbon, the Agenda for Change and the EU Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy;

whereas the universal 2030 Agenda and inter-related SDGs sets out to achieve sustainable development within the planetary boundaries, building partnerships that put people at the centre, providing them with vital resources such as food, water and sanitation, health care, energy, education and employment opportunities, and promoting peace, justice and prosperity for all; whereas actions must be taken in line with the principles of country ownership, inclusive development partnerships, focus on results, transparency and accountability; whereas a rights-based approach is a prerequisite for sustainable development in accordance with UN resolution 41/128, in which the right to development is defined as an inalienable human right;

C.	whereas Article 208 TFEU states that ‘the Union’s development cooperation policy and that of the Member States complement and reinforce each other’;

D.	whereas climate change is a phenomenon that must be treated urgently, as it hits the poor and most vulnerable countries to a greater extent;

E.	whereas three quarters of the world’s poor live in Middle Income Countries (MICs); whereas MICs are not a homogenous group but have very varied needs and challenges, and EU development cooperation must therefore be sufficiently differentiated;

whereas the Treaty-based policy coherence for development approach requires the EU to take development cooperation objectives into account when acting in other policy areas likely to affect developing countries; whereas closely linked policy areas such as trade, security, migration, humanitarian assistance and development need therefore to be formulated and implemented so as to be mutually reinforcing;

whereas migration has become an ever-more pressing issue, with over 65 million forcibly displaced people worldwide; whereas the vast majority of refugees live in developing countries; whereas state fragility, instability and wars, violation of human rights, deep poverty and lack of prospects are among the major causes for people to leave their homes; whereas millions of people have migrated or fled to the EU in recent years;

whereas some recent proposals by the Commission can be seen as refocusing development policy under the new prism of migration management, in order to meet EU priorities that are often short-term; whereas there should be no conditionality between development assistance and cooperation from beneficiary countries on migration issues; whereas funds such as the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa and the EU External Investment Plan have been set up with the aim of responding to the recent migratory crises in the EU; whereas EU development cooperation policy must have as its primary objective the reduction and, in the long term, the eradication of poverty and be based on development effectiveness principles;

I.	whereas health and education are key sustainable development enablers; whereas investment to guarantee universal access in these areas therefore features prominently in the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs and should be adequately resourced in order to have spill-over effects for other sectors;

whereas SMEs and microenterprises are the backbone of economies worldwide, are a fundamental part of the economy of developing countries and, along with well-functioning public sectors, are a key factor in furthering economic, social and cultural growth; whereas SMEs often face restricted access to capital, particularly in developing countries;

whereas over half of the global population is urban today, and whereas this proportion is predicted to reach two-thirds by 2050, with some 90 % of urban growth taking place in Africa and Asia; whereas this trend reinforces the need for sustainable urban development; whereas urban security is becoming an increasing challenge in many developing countries;

L.	whereas oceans play a vital role for biodiversity, food security, energy, jobs and growth, but whereas marine resources are under threat from climate change and from overexploitation and unsustainable management;

M.	whereas deforestation and forest degradation are depleting ecosystems and are important contributors to climate change;

N.	whereas EU development policy is an important complement to Member State development policy which should focus on areas of comparative advantage and on ways in which the global role of the EU as an organisation can further the objectives of its development policy;

O.	whereas development policy is a crucial aspect of the EU’s external policy; whereas the Union is the largest development donor in the world and, together with its Member States, it provides more than half of official development assistance globally;

whereas inequalities in wealth and income are growing worldwide; whereas this trend risks undermining social cohesion and increasing discrimination, political instability and unrest; whereas mobilisation of domestic resources is therefore key to implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and represents a viable strategy to overcome foreign aid dependency in the long run;

Stresses the importance of the European Consensus on Development in providing a joint and coherent position at both EU and Member State level on the objectives, values, principles and main aspects of development policy, including in its implementation; believes that the Consensus acquis, and in particular its holistic approach and the clear primary objective of fighting, and in the long term eradicating, poverty, must be safeguarded in its revision; believes, furthermore, that tackling inequalities, as recognised in the SDGs, must also be a target; recalls that Member State- and EU-level development policies should reinforce and complement each other;

Warns against the widening of official development assistance (ODA) criteria with the aim of covering expenses other than those directly linked to the previously mentioned objectives; stresses that any reform of ODA must be aimed at increasing development impact;

Recognises the importance of a clear European external strategy, which requires policy coherence, notably on peace and security, migration, trade, the environment and climate change, humanitarian assistance and development cooperation; reiterates, however, that development objectives are goals in their own right; recalls the Treaty-based obligation enshrined in Article 208 TFEU to ‘take account of the objectives of development cooperation in the policies that it implements which are likely to affect developing countries’; strongly underlines that Parliament can accept only a strong concept of development policy anchored in the TFEU obligations with a primary focus on the fight against poverty; recalls the principles of EU external action under Article 21(1)of the Treaty on European Union, namely democracy, the rule of law, the universality and indivisibility of human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for human dignity, the principles of equality and solidarity, and respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law;

In accordance with the Lisbon Treaty, describes development cooperation as follows: fighting for DIGNITY by eradicating POVERTY;

EU development objectives, values and principles

Calls for the SDGs, the 2030 Agenda and the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development to cut across all internal as well as external EU policies and to be put at the heart of the Consensus, recognising the important inter-linkages between its goals and targets; calls for the fight against, and in the long term eradication of, poverty to remain the overarching and primary goal of EU development policy, with a particular focus on the most marginalised groups and aiming at leaving no-one behind; stresses the importance of defining poverty in line with the definition of the Consensus and the Agenda for Change and within the framework of the Lisbon Treaty;

Stresses the universal and transformative nature of the 2030 Agenda; underlines therefore that developed and developing countries have a shared responsibility for achieving the SDGs, and that the EU SDG strategy must consist of a coherent set of both internal and external policies and commitments with a full set of development policy tools;

Insists that development policy must reflect more consistently the Union’s focus on fragile states, youth unemployment, women and girls facing gender-based violence and harmful practices and those in conflict situations, and recalls the EU’s commitment to allocate at least 20 % of its ODA to social inclusion and human development;

Stresses that education is key to developing self-sustainable societies; calls for the EU to link quality education, technical and vocational training and cooperation with industry as an essential pre-condition for youth employability and access to qualified jobs; believes that addressing in particular the issue of access to education in emergency and crisis situations is crucial for both the development and protection of children;

Stresses that systemic factors, including gender inequality, policy barriers and power imbalances, have an impact on health and that ensuring equitable access to quality healthcare services provided by skilled, qualified and competent healthcare staff is critical; underlines that the new Consensus should therefore promote investment in and the empowerment of frontline healthcare workers, who play a critical role in ensuring coverage of healthcare services in remote, poor, underserved and conflict areas; stresses that promoting research in and development of new health technologies to address new health threats such as epidemics and antimicrobial resistance is crucial to the attainment of the SDGs;

10.

Calls for a continued strong EU commitment to and promotion of rules-based global governance, and notably the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development;

11.

Stresses that combating inequalities in and between countries, discrimination, in particular on the basis of gender, injustice and strife, promoting peace, participatory democracy, good governance, rule of law and human rights, inclusive societies and sustainable growth and addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation challenges must be objectives cutting across EU development policy; calls for the 2030 Agenda to be implemented as a whole and in a coordinated and coherent manner with the Paris agreement on climate change, including as regards the need to urgently bridge the gap between what is needed to limit global warming and to increase work on and funding for adaptation; recalls the EU commitment to allocate 20 % of its 2014-2020 budget (some EUR 180 billion) to efforts to combat climate change, including through its external and development cooperation policies;

12.

Stresses that development cooperation can arise from inclusion, trust and innovation founded on respect by all partners for the use of national strategies and country results frameworks;

13.

Recognises the special role of the good governance dimension of sustainable development; calls for the EU to strengthen the balance between economic, social and environmental domains by supporting comprehensive national sustainable development strategies and supporting the right mechanisms and processes of good governance, with a key focus on the participation of civil society; stresses the importance of administrative and fiscal decentralisation reforms as a means to promote good governance at local level in line with the principle of subsidiarity;

14.

Calls for EU development cooperation to encourage partner countries to ‘glocalise’ the SDGs, in consultation with national and local civil society, in order to translate them into contextually relevant national and subnational goals rooted in national development strategies, programmes and budgets; calls for the EU and its Member States to encourage their partner countries to include the voices of marginalised communities in monitoring the SDGs and to promote concrete mechanisms to enable this, in line with the ‘leave no-one behind’ agenda;

15.

Calls for EU development policy to continue to prioritise support to least developed and low-income countries (LDCs and LICs) as well as small island developing states (SIDS) while addressing the diverse and specific needs of middle-income countries (MICs), in which the majority of the world’s poor live, in line with the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and with full respect for the principle of differentiation; calls for the mainstreaming of a territorial approach to development in order to empower local and regional governments and better address inequalities within countries;

16.

Stresses the importance of the principle of democratic ownership, giving developing countries the primary responsibility for their own development but also allowing national parliaments and political parties, regional and local authorities, civil society and other stakeholders to fully play their respective roles alongside national governments and to actively participate in the decision-making process; underlines in this context the importance of improving upward and downward accountability with the aim of better responding to local needs and fostering citizens’ democratic ownership;

17.

Calls for the EU to continue and strengthen its support to local and regional capacity-building and to decentralisation processes in order to empower local and regional governments and to make them more transparent and accountable so that they can better meet the needs and demands of their citizens;

18.

Calls, in accordance with the principle of partnership, for shared accountability for all joint actions, promoting the highest possible level of transparency; calls for the EU and its Member States to promote a strengthened role for national parliaments, local and regional governments and civil society in political and budgetary oversight and democratic scrutiny; calls for corruption and impunity to be jointly fought by all means and at all policy levels;

19.

Calls for political dialogue between the EU and partner countries/regions to be a central strand of any EU development cooperation, and for such dialogues to focus on common values and how to promote them; calls for further parliamentary and civil society involvement in political dialogues;

20.

Underlines the importance of plural and inclusive democracy, and calls for the EU to promote a level playing field for political parties and a dynamic civil society in all its actions, including through capacity-building and through dialogue with partner countries to allow sufficient civil society space with citizen-driven, participatory monitoring and accountability mechanisms at sub-national, national and regional level and to ensure engagement of civil society organisations (CSOs) in the design, implementation, monitoring, review and accountability of development policies; calls for the EU to recognise that civil society consultation is a crucial factor for success in all programming sectors, in order to achieve inclusive governance;

21.

Recognises the role of civil society in raising awareness among the public and in addressing the SDGs at national and global level through global citizenship education and awareness raising;

22.

Calls for the promotion of equality between women and men and women’s and girls’ empowerment and rights to be both a stand-alone and cross-cutting goal in EU development policy in accordance with the EU Gender Action Plan and 2030 Agenda, as stated in the Council conclusions of 26 May 2015 on the equal rights of women and men in the framework of development; calls for specific policy-driven action to target challenges in this area; calls for further EU efforts to promote the important role of women and young people as agents of development and change; underlines, in this regard, that gender equality comprises girls and boys and women and men of all ages and that programmes should encourage equal co-participation and the promotion of rights and services, notably in the case of access to education and to reproductive and health care, without discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation;

23.

Draws attention to the need to promote, protect and safeguard all human rights; stresses that upholding the rights of women and girls, as well as sexual and reproductive health and rights, and eliminating all forms of sexual and gender-based violence and discrimination, including harmful practices against children, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, are essential to realising human rights; stresses the need to guarantee universal access to affordable, comprehensive, high-quality information and education on sexual and reproductive health and family planning services; calls for further actions in order to accelerate efforts to achieve gender equality and empowerment of women by deepening multi-stakeholder partnerships, strengthening capacity for gender-responsive budgeting and planning and ensuring the participation of women’s organisations;

24.

Calls for specific EU development strategies to better target, protect and support vulnerable and marginalised groups such as women and children, LGTBI people, elderly people, persons with disabilities, small producers, cooperatives, linguistic and ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples, in order to offer them the same opportunities and rights as everyone else, in line with the principle of leaving no-one behind;

25.

Reiterates the EU’s commitment to investing in the development of children and young people by improving reporting on child-focused development cooperation and domestic resources, and to strengthening capacity for young people to participate in accountability exercises;

26.

Calls for support for fragile and conflict-affected countries to access the resources and partnerships needed for achieving development priorities, and for the promotion of peer learning between them and enhanced engagement between development, peace building, security and humanitarian partners and efforts;

27.

Underlines the ongoing importance of the objectives set out in the human development chapter of the current European Consensus; stresses the need to connect these objectives to the SDGs and to put horizontal health system strengthening (other than support for vertical programmes for specific diseases) at the core of health development programming, which will also strengthen resilience in the case of health crises such as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa of 2013-2014, and to ensure the fundamental right to universal health care, as provided for by Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and by the Constitution of the World Health Organisation (WHO); recalls that Article 168 TFEU states that a high level of human health protection must be ensured in the definition and implementation of all Union policies and activities; calls in this regard for a more coherent innovation and development of medicines policy that guarantees access to medicines for all;

28.

Suggests, in the light of demographic growth, most notably in Africa and in LDCs, taking account of the fact that of the 21 countries with the highest fertility rates 19 are in Africa, that Nigeria is the country with the world’s fastest-growing population, and that by 2050 more than half of global population growth is expected to be in Africa and this is a problem for sustainable development, that EU development cooperation should put more emphasis on programmes that address this topic;

29.

Welcomes the fact that food and nutrition security has emerged as a priority area for the new global development framework, and welcomes the inclusion of a stand-alone goal to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture; recognises that hunger and poverty are not accidents, but the result of social and economic injustice and inequality at all levels; reiterates that the Consensus should stress the EU’s continued support to integrated, cross-sectoral approaches that strengthen the capacity for diversified local food production and include nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions which explicitly target gender inequality;

30.

Insists on the need for accountability mechanisms regarding the monitoring and the implementation of the SDGs and the 0,7 % ODA/GNI objectives; calls for the EU and its Member States to submit a timeline on how to gradually achieve these goals and objectives, with annual reporting to the European Parliament;

31.

Underlines the need for multi-sectoral, integrated approaches to build resilience effectively, which implies working towards a better integration of humanitarian, disaster risk reduction, social protection, climate change adaptation, natural resource management, conflict mitigation and other development actions; calls for the EU and the Member States to promote inclusive governance that addresses marginalisation and inequality drivers of vulnerability; recognises that vulnerable populations must be empowered to manage risk and to access decision-making processes that impact their future;

32.

Emphasises the role culture plays in sustainable human, social and economic development, and insists that account be taken of the cultural dimension as a fundamental aspect of solidarity, cooperation and EU development aid policies; calls for the promotion of cultural diversity and support for cultural policies and for local circumstances to be taken into account where this can help to achieve the objective of promoting sustainable development;

33.

Points out that the urban population is predicted to increase by 2,5 billion by 2050, with close to 90 % of the increase concentrated in Asia and Africa; recognises the problems arising from the explosive growth of megacities and the challenges this phenomenon poses to societal and environmental sustainability; calls for balanced regional development and recalls that invigorated economic activity in rural areas and smaller towns and cities decreases pressure to migrate to urban megacenters, thus alleviating the problems of uncontrolled urbanisation and migration;

Differentiation

34.

Underlines that, for an EU development strategy to be effective, the EU must promote a fair redistribution by developing countries of wealth through national budgets, i.e. within as well as between countries; highlights that European development aid should first and foremost differentiate between individual countries’ situations and development needs, and not on the basis of microeconomic indicators solely or political considerations;

35.

Stresses that EU development cooperation should be implemented to address the most important needs and to seek the greatest possible impact in both the short and long term; stresses the need for tailor-made development strategies, locally owned and designed, to take account of specific challenges faced by individual countries or by groups of countries such as SIDS, fragile states and land-locked developing countries (LLDCs);

36.

Calls for specific strategies to be developed for cooperation with MICs in order to consolidate their progress and fight inequality, exclusion, discrimination and poverty, especially through the promotion of fair and progressive tax systems, while underlining that MICs are not a homogenous group and that each therefore has specific needs that should be met by tailor-made policies; underlines the need to phase out responsibly and gradually financial aid to MICs and to focus on other forms of cooperation, such as technical assistance, sharing industrial know-how and knowledge, public-public partnerships that can support global public goods such as science, technology and innovation, exchange of best practices and promotion of regional, South-South and triangular cooperation; highlights the importance of alternative sources of finance, such as domestic revenue mobilisation, non-concessional or less concessional loans, cooperation in technical, taxation, trade-related and research-related matters, and public-private partnerships;

Development effectiveness and financing

Development effectiveness

37.

Calls for the EU and its Member States to lead the way among development actors and to recommit to the full implementation of the principles of effective development cooperation, prioritising mechanisms, tools and instruments that allow more resources to reach final beneficiaries, namely country ownership of development priorities, alignment with partner countries’ national development strategies and systems, a focus on results, transparency, shared accountability and democratic inclusiveness of all stakeholders; stresses the importance of reinforcing the EU’s efforts to make development cooperation as effective as possible, with a view to contributing to achieving the ambitious goals and targets set out in the 2030 Agenda and making the best use of public and private resources for development; calls for a clear reference to be made to the development effectiveness principles in the new EU Consensus on Development;

38.

Reiterates the importance of increasing the understanding and active engagement of the European public in major development debates and attempts to eradicate global poverty and promote sustainable development; stresses, to this end, that non-formal development education and awareness raising, including through continuation and expansion of the Development Education and Awareness Raising (DEAR) programme, must remain integral parts of the EU and Member States’ development policies;

39.

Believes that simplifying funding and bureaucratic procedures can help in improving effectiveness; calls for an EU reform to speed up implementation (as already addressed in paragraph 122 of the 2005 European Consensus on Development), which addresses the need to revise the selection procedures by focusing more on the applicant: identity, expertise, experiences, performance and reliability in the field (not only on formal requirements of eligibility);

40.

Reiterates the importance of capacity building to improve the capability of citizens, organisations, governments and societies to play their respective roles fully in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating sustainable development strategies;

41.

Welcomes the progress made, but calls for further efforts by the EU and its Member States to step up and broaden the scope of joint programming and joint implementation efforts in order to pool resources, improve the in-country division of labour, reduce transaction costs, avoid overlaps and aid fragmentation, raise the EU’s profile at local level and promote country ownership of development strategies and alignment with partner countries’ priorities; stresses how important it is for the joint programming process to be carried out by European stakeholders and opened up to other donors only where the local situation so warrants, but without diluting European ownership of the process; calls for the EU and its Member States to further coordinate their actions with other donors and organisations such as emerging donors, civil society organisations, private philanthropists, financial institutions and private-sector companies; notes with concern that as of mid-2015 only five EU Member States had published Busan implementation plans; urges Member States to publish their implementation plans and report on their efforts on development effectiveness annually;

42.

Recalls its request (25) for the codification and strengthening of the mechanisms and practices for ensuring better complementarity and effective coordination of development aid among EU Member States and institutions, providing clear and enforceable rules for ensuring democratic domestic ownership, harmonisation, alignment with country strategies and systems, predictability of funds, transparency and mutual accountability;

43.

Underlines that development effectiveness should be one of the main drivers of the new EU development policy; recalls that this depends not only on aid donors but also on the existence of effective and responsive institutions, sound policies, the rule of law, inclusive democratic governance and safeguards against corruption within developing countries and illicit financial flows at international level;

44.

Recognises the role of local and regional governments in development, and particularly decentralised cooperation between European and partner-country local and regional governments as an effective means for mutual capacity strengthening, and implementation of the SDGs at the local level;

Financing for development

45.

Reiterates that ODA should remain the backbone of EU development policy; recalls the EU’s commitment to achieving the ODA target of 0,7 % of GNI by 2030; stresses the importance of other countries, developed and emerging, also scaling up their ODA provision; underlines the important role of ODA as a catalyst for change and a lever for the mobilisation of other resources; recalls the EU’s commitment to mobilising resources for climate action in developing countries, to delivering its share towards achieving the developed countries’ goal of mobilising USD 100 billion/year and to maintaining a doubling of biodiversity funding to developing countries;

46.

Calls for objective and transparent criteria for resource allocation of development assistance at Member State as well as EU level; calls for those criteria to be based on needs, on impact assessments and on political, social and economic performance, with a view to the most effective use of funds; stresses, however, that such allocation should never be made conditional on performance in areas not directly linked to development objectives; stresses that good performance towards mutually agreed goals should be encouraged and rewarded; highlights the importance of disaggregated data at territorial level to better assess the impact of ODA;

47.

Recognises that general budget support promotes national ownership, alignment with partner countries’ national development strategies, a focus on results, transparency and mutual accountability, but underlines that it should only be considered when and where the conditions are right and effective control systems are in place; points out that budget support is the best means of fostering genuine political dialogue leading to greater empowerment and ownership;

48.

Believes that addressing the SDGs will require financing and action for development going beyond ODA and public policies; stresses the need for domestic as well as international and for private as well as public financing, and for policies linking public and private pro-development action and inducing an environment promoting growth and its equitable distribution through national budgets;

49.

Recalls that developing countries face major constraints in raising tax revenue and are particularly affected by corporate tax evasion and illicit financial flows; calls for the EU and its Member States to strengthen policy coherence for development (PCD) in this field, to investigate the spill-over impact on developing countries of their own tax arrangements and laws and to advocate a better representation of developing countries in international fora set up to reform global tax policies;

50.

Calls for the EU and its Member States to support low- and middle-income countries in creating fair, progressive, transparent and efficient tax systems, as well as other means of domestic resource mobilisation, in order to increase the predictability and stability of such financing and reduce aid dependency; calls for such support in areas such as tax administration and public financial management, fair redistribution systems, anti-corruption, and fighting transfer mispricing, tax evasion and other forms of illicit financial flow; stresses the importance of fiscal decentralisation and the need for capacity building to support subnational governments in the design of local tax systems and tax collection;

51.

Calls on the EU and its Member States to establish compulsory country-by-country reporting on multinational companies, together with the compulsory publication of comprehensive and comparable data on companies’ activities so as to ensure transparency and accountability; calls for the EU and its Member States to consider the spill-over effect on developing countries of their own tax policies, arrangements and laws, and to undertake the reforms needed to ensure that European companies making profits in developing countries pay their fair share of tax in those countries;

52.

Underlines the need for blending and public-private partnerships in order to leverage financing beyond ODA and to effectively follow development effectiveness principles, but also underlines the need for these to be based on transparent criteria, to clearly demonstrate their additionality and positive development impact, not to erode universal access to quality essential public services and for all payments to be transparent; underlines that financed projects must respect national development objectives, internationally agreed human rights and social and environmental standards in a binding manner, the needs and rights of local populations, and the principles of development effectiveness; recognises in this regard that traditional land use, for example by smallholders and pastoralists, is usually not documented but needs to be respected and protected; reiterates that enterprises involved in development partnerships should respect the principles of corporate social responsibility (CSR), the UN Guiding Principles and OECD Guidelines throughout their operations, and promote ethical business practices; notes that development policies and programmes yield a double dividend when development effectiveness is fulfilled; calls all development actors to fully align all their actions with these principles;

53.

Calls for the EU to promote investments that generate decent employment in line with International Labour Organisation standards and the 2030 Agenda; underlines in this regard the value of social dialogue and the need for transparency and accountability of the private sector in the case of public–private partnerships and when development money is used for blending;

54.

Stresses that development funds used for the proposed External Investment Plan (EIP), as well as for existing trust funds, must comply with ODA-compatible development objectives and the new SDGs; calls for mechanisms to be established allowing Parliament to fulfil its oversight role when EU development funds are being used outside the normal EU budget procedures, notably by granting it observer status on EIP, trust-fund and other strategic boards that decide on the priorities and scope of programmes and projects;

55.

Recognises the role of local micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, cooperatives, inclusive business models and research institutes as engines of growth, employment and local innovation, which will contribute to the achievement of the SDGs; calls for the promotion of an enabling environment for investment, industrialisation, business activity, science, technology and innovation in order to stimulate and accelerate domestic economic and human development, as well as of training programmes and regular public-private dialogues; acknowledges the EIB’s role under the EU EIP and stresses that its initiatives should focus particularly on young people and women, and should — in alignment with development effectiveness principles — contribute to investment in socially important sectors such as water, health and education, as well as in supporting entrepreneurship and the local private sector; asks the EIB to devote more resources to microfinances with a strong gender perspective; calls on the EIB, moreover, to work alongside the African Development Bank (AfDB) to finance long-term investments to be the benefit of sustainable development and on other development banks to propose a microcredit facility to subsidise sustainable loans to family farms;

56.

Considers it indispensable that the new Consensus make reference to a strong EU commitment to putting in place a legally binding international framework to hold companies accountable for their malpractice in the countries where they operate, since they impact all areas of society — from profiting from child labour to the absence of a living wage, from oil spills to mass deforestation, and from harassment of human rights defenders to land grabbing;

57.

Calls for the European Union and its Member States to promote binding measures to ensure that multinational corporations pay taxes in the countries in which value is extracted or created and to promote compulsory country-by-country reporting by the private sector, thus enhancing the domestic resource mobilisation capacities of countries; calls for spill-over analysis to study possible profit shifting practices;

58.

Call for a human-needs-based approach to debt sustainability through a binding set of standards to define responsible lending and borrowing, debt audits and a fair debt workout mechanism, which should assess the legitimacy and sustainability of countries’ debt burdens;

Policy coherence for development

59.

Calls for an EU-wide debate on PCD in order to clarify the link between PCD and policy coherence for sustainable development (PCSD); underlines the key importance of applying PCD principles in all EU policies; stresses that PCD should be a major element of the EU’s strategy to achieve the SDGs; reiterates the need for further efforts by EU institutions and Member States to take account of development cooperation objectives in all internal and external policies likely to affect developing countries, to find effective mechanisms and to use existing best practices at Member State level to implement and evaluate PCD, to ensure that PCD is implemented with a gender sensitive approach and to involve all stakeholders, including civil society organisations and local and regional authorities, in this process;

60.

Proposes that an arbitration system should be established, under the authority of the President of the Commission, to bring about PCD and that in the event of divergences between the various policies of the Union, the President of the Commission should fully shoulder his political responsibility for the overall approach and have the task of deciding between them on the basis of the Union’s PCD commitments; takes the view that, once the problems have been identified, consideration could be given to reforming the decision-making procedures within the Commission and in interdepartmental cooperation;

61.

Calls for a reinforced dialogue between the EU and developing countries regarding the promotion and implementation of PCD by the EU; believes that the feedback from EU partners on the progress of PCD can play a key role in obtaining an accurate evaluation of its impact;

62.

Reiterates its call for the development of governance processes to promote PCD at the global level and for the EU to take the lead in promoting the PCD concept on the international stage;

Trade and development

63.

Underlines the importance of fair and properly regulated trade in promoting regional integration, contributing to sustainable growth and combating poverty; stresses that EU trade policy must be part of the sustainable development agenda and reflect EU development policy objectives;

64.

Underlines that unilateral trade preferences to the benefit of developing countries which are not least developed countries still exist in order to favour development; also considers that the new Consensus should contain a reference to the EU commitment to promoting fair and ethical trade schemes with small producers in developing countries;

65.

Welcomes the recognition of the strong contribution of fair trade to the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda; calls for the EU to implement and further develop its commitment to supporting the uptake of fair trade schemes in the EU and partner countries in order to promote sustainable consumption and production patterns through its trade policies;

66.

Stresses the need for further EU support to developing countries for trade capacity building, infrastructure and domestic private sector development, in order to allow them to add value to and diversify production and to increase their trade;

67.

Reiterates that a healthy environment, including a stable climate, is indispensable to poverty eradication; supports EU efforts to increase transparency and accountability in natural resource management and in the extraction of and trade in natural resources, to promote sustainable consumption and production and to prevent illegal trade in sectors such as minerals, timber and wildlife; strongly believes that further global efforts are needed in order to develop regulatory frameworks for supply chains and greater private sector accountability so as to ensure sustainable management of and trade in natural resources and to allow resource-rich countries and their populations protecting the rights of local and indigenous communities to further benefit from such trade and from the sustainable management of biodiversity and ecosystems; welcomes the progress made since the establishment of the Bangladesh Sustainability Compact, and calls on the Commission to expand such frameworks to other sectors; urges the Commission, in this regard, to enhance corporate social responsibility and due diligence initiatives that complement the existing EU timber regulation, on the proposed EU regulation on conflict minerals, for other sectors;

68.

Considers it regrettable that a regulatory framework on the way corporations comply with human rights and obligations with respect to social and environmental standards is still lacking, which allows certain states and companies to circumvent them with impunity; calls for the EU and its Member States to engage actively in the work of the UN Human Rights Council and of the UN Environment Programme on an international treaty to hold transnational corporations accountable for human rights abuses and violations of environmental standards;

69.

Reaffirms the importance of coordinated, accelerated actions to address malnutrition in order to fulfil the 2030 Agenda and achieve SDG 2 on ending hunger;

70.

Recalls the crucial role forests play in climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation, and calls for the EU to contribute to halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation, and to promote sustainable forest management in developing countries;

Security and development

71.

Reiterates the direct link between security and development, but underlines the need to strictly follow the recent ODA reform on the use of development instruments for security policy by applying a clear objective of poverty eradication and promotion of sustainable development; stresses that the objective of peaceful and inclusive societies with access to justice for all should translate into EU external action which, by supporting all local stakeholders who can help bring this about, builds resilience, promotes human security, strengthens the rule of law, restores confidence and tackles the complex challenges of insecurity, fragility and democratic transition;

72.

Believes that synergies between the common security and defence policy (CSDP) and development instruments need to be fostered in order to find the right balance between conflict prevention, conflict resolution and post-conflict rehabilitation and development; stresses that external policy programmes and measures to this end must be comprehensive, tailor-made to the country situation and, when financed through means intended for development policy, help to achieve core development objectives as defined under ODA; underlines that the core tasks of development cooperation remain to support countries in their endeavour to create stable and peaceful states that respect good governance, the rule of law and human rights, and to seek to establish sustainable functioning market economies with the purpose of bringing prosperity to the people and fulfilment of all human basic needs; stresses the need to increase the very limited CSDP financing in this context in order to allow its wider use, inter alia, to the benefit of development in line with PCD;

Migration and development

73.

Stresses the central role of development cooperation in addressing the root causes of forced migration and displacement, such as state fragility, conflicts, insecurity and marginalisation, poverty, inequality and discrimination, human rights violations, poor access to basic services such as health and education, and climate change; identifies the following goals and objectives as preconditions for stable, resilient states that will be less prone to situations that may eventually result in forced migration: promoting human rights and peoples’ dignity, democracy-building, good governance and the rule of law, social inclusion and cohesion, economic opportunities with decent employment and through people-centred businesses and policy space for civil society; calls for development cooperation to focus on these goals and objectives in order to foster resilience, and calls for migration-linked development assistance in emergencies in order to stabilise the situation, to maintain the functioning of states and to enable the displaced to live in dignity;

74.

Recalls, as stressed by the UN 2030 Agenda, the positive contribution of migrants to sustainable development, including remittances, of which the transfer costs should be further brought down; underlines that responding to migration-related challenges and crises together in a meaningful way requires a more coordinated, systematic and structured approach, matching interests of countries of origin and destination; stresses that an effective way of helping large numbers of refugees and asylum seekers is by improving conditions and offering both humanitarian and development assistance; at the same time opposes any attempts to link aid with border control, management of migratory flows or readmission agreements;

75.

Underlines that countries of origin and transit for migrants need tailor-made solutions for development that fit their respective political and socio-economic situations; stresses the need for such cooperation to promote human rights and dignity for all, good governance, peace and democracy-building and that it should be based on common interests and shared values and respect for international law;

76.

Underlines the need for close parliamentary scrutiny and monitoring of agreements linked to migration management and of migration-linked use of development funds; stresses the importance of close cooperation and the establishment of a good practice of information exchange between institutions, notably in the field of migration and security; recalls its concerns about the increasing use of trust funds, such as limited transparency, lack of consultation and regional ownership;

77.

Points out, given the recent European policy measures to fight the root causes of forced migration, that European development policy must fall within the OECD-DAC definition and must be based on development needs and human rights; stresses further that development aid must not be made conditional on cooperation in migration matters such as border management or readmission agreements;

Humanitarian assistance

78.

Stresses the need for closer links between humanitarian assistance and development cooperation in order to address financing gaps, avoid overlaps and the creation of parallel systems, and to create conditions for sustainable development with built-in resilience and tools for improved crisis prevention and preparedness; calls for the EU to fulfil its commitment to devote by 2020 at least 25 % of its humanitarian aid to local and national actors as directly as possible, as agreed in the Grand Bargain;

79.

Recalls the fundamental principles of humanitarian aid: humanity, neutrality, independence and impartiality; welcomes the Commission’s tenacity in not merging the European Consensus on Development and the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid;

80.

Stresses the need to strengthen international assistance, coordination and resources for emergency response, recovery and reconstruction in post-disaster situations;

81.

Welcomes the commitment to support both the promotion of ICT technologies in developing countries and enabling environments for the digital economy by enhancing free, open and secure connectivity; recalls that satellites can provide cost-effective solutions to connect assets and people in remote areas, and encourages the EU and its Member States to bear this in mind in their work in this field;

Global public goods and challenges

82.

Strongly believes that the global presence of the EU and its Member States makes them well placed to continue to play a leading international role in addressing global public goods and challenges (GPGC), which are increasingly under stress and disproportionately affecting the poor; calls for global goods and environmental challenges to be mainstreamed across the Consensus, among them human development, the environment, including climate change and access to water, insecurity and state fragility, migration, affordable energy services, food security and eradication of malnutrition and hunger;

83.

Recalls that small-scale and family farming, the most common agricultural model worldwide, plays a key role in the fulfilment of the SDGs: it contributes substantially to food security, to the fight against soil erosion and biodiversity loss, and to the mitigation of climate change, while providing jobs; stresses that the EU should promote on the one hand the creation of farmers’ organisations, including cooperatives, and on the other hand sustainable agriculture focusing on agro-ecological practices, better productivity of family farms, peasants’ and land use rights and informal seed systems as a means of ensuring food security, supply of local and regional markets, fair income and a decent life for farmers;

84.

Recalls that the ‘private sector’ is not a homogenous set of actors; stresses therefore that, in dealing with the private sector, EU and Member State development policy should comprise differentiated strategies to engage the various types of private sector actors, including producer-led private sector actors, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, cooperatives, social enterprises and those in the solidarity economy;

85.

Reaffirms that ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030 (SDG 7) is crucial for the satisfaction of basic human needs, including access to clean water, sanitation, health care and education, and is essential for supporting local business creation and all kinds of economic activity, as well as a key driver of development progress;

86.

Stresses that increasing productivity of small-holders and achieving sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture and food systems play a key role in the fulfilment of SDG 2, and the concept of sustainable consumption and production in SDG 12, which goes beyond circular economy principles and addresses environment, social and human rights impacts; stresses that the EU should therefore focus on promoting sustainable food production and resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production; recognises the specific needs of women farmers with respect to food security;

87.

Highlights the importance of continuing to work on improving access to water, sanitation and hygiene as cross-cutting issues that affect the attainment of other goals in the post-2015 agenda, including health, education and gender equality;

88.

Calls for the EU to promote global initiatives aimed at addressing challenges linked to fast increasing urbanisation and at creating safer, more inclusive, resilient and sustainable cities; welcomes in this context the recent adoption of the New Urban Agenda by the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), which aims to explore better ways of planning, designing, financing, developing, governing and managing cities in order to help fight poverty and hunger, improve health and protect the environment;

89.

Calls for further EU efforts to protect the oceans and marine resources; welcomes in this context the recent Commission initiatives to improve international governance of the oceans in order to promote better management and to mitigate the impact of climate change on the seas and ecosystems;

90.

Stresses the importance of addressing the linkages with improved productivity of sustainable agriculture and fisheries leading to reduced loss and waste of food, transparent management of natural resources and adaptation to climate change;

EU development policy

91.

Reiterates the comparative advantages offered by EU development action, including its global presence, the flexibility offered by its range of instruments and delivery methods, its role in and commitment to policy coherence and coordination, its rights- and democracy-based approach, its scale in terms of providing a critical mass in grants, and its consistent support to civil society;

92.

Stresses the need for EU comparative advantages to be translated into focused action on a certain number of policy areas, including, but not limited to, democracy, good governance and human rights, global public goods and challenges, trade and regional integration, and tackling the root causes of insecurity and forced migration; underlines that such concentration will need to be adapted to the needs and priorities of individual developing countries and regions in line with the principles of ownership and partnership;

93.

Recalls the growing role played by sports in development and peace through the promotion of tolerance and a culture of mutual respect, as well as the contribution that sports make to empowering women and young people, individuals and communities, as well as to health, education and social inclusion;

94.

Underlines the importance of a collective comprehensive, transparent and timely accountability system for monitoring and review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Consensus by the EU and its Member States, stresses that yearly reporting on the progress in the implementation of all development policy commitments, including those on effectiveness, PCD and ODA commitments, continues to be necessary for accountability and parliamentary oversight; regrets the recent and expected reporting gaps; welcomes the Commission’s plans to carry out a mid-term assessment of the implementation of the Consensus;

o o

95.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the European External Action Service.

(1) OJ C 46, 24.2.2006, p. 1.

(2) http://www.oecd.org/dac/effectiveness/49650173.pdf

(3) http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-14684-2016-INIT/en/pdf

(4) http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/70/1&Lang=E

(5) http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/AAAA_Outcome.pdf

(6) https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/l09r01.pdf

(7) https://www.worldhumanitariansummit.org/

(8) https://habitat3.org/the-new-urban-agenda/

(9) http://effectivecooperation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/4314021e.pdf