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having regard to Article 208(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), and in particular its statement that the ‘Union shall take account of the objectives of development cooperation in the policies that it implements which are likely to affect developing countries’,

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having regard to Article 3(5) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), which states that, in its relations with the wider world, the Union shall, inter alia, ‘contribute to peace, security, the sustainable development of the Earth, solidarity and mutual respect among peoples, free and fair trade, eradication of poverty and the protection of human rights’,

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having regard to Article 21(1) TEU, which states that ‘the Union’s action on the international scene shall be guided by the principles which have inspired its own creation, development and enlargement, and which it seeks to advance in the wider world: 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’,

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having regard to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the sustainable development goals (SDGs),

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having regard to the joint statement by the Council and the representatives of the governments of the Member States meeting within the Council, Parliament and the Commission of 30 June 2017 on the New European Consensus on Development — ‘Our world, our dignity, our future’, and in particular paragraphs 10, 109 and 110 thereof (1),

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having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/947 of the Parliament and of the Council (2) of 9 June 2021 establishing the ‘Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument — Global Europe’,

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having regard to the draft new Partnership Agreement between the European Union and members of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) (post-Cotonou Agreement), for which the negotiations have been concluded but which has not yet been signed or entered into force,

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having regard to the joint statement of 18 February 2022 of the Sixth European Union — African Union Summit: ‘A Joint Vision for 2030’,

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having regard to the Commission Staff Working Document of 6 June 2019 entitled ‘Evaluation of the EU Policy Coherence for Development’ (SWD(2019)0093),

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having regard to the external evaluation of the European Union’s Policy Coherence for Development (2009-2016) of 2018,

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having regard to the in-depth analysis entitled ‘Ensuring transparent and impactful Policy Coherence for Development’, published by its Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union on 9 December 2022  (3),

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having regard to the Commission staff working document of 28 January 2019 entitled ‘2019 EU report on Policy Coherence for Development’ (SWD(2019)0020),

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having regard to the Council conclusions 16 May 2019 on Policy Coherence for Development (PCD),

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having regard to its previous resolutions on PCD, and in particular its resolution of 7 June 2016 on the EU 2015 Report on Policy Coherence for Development (4),

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having regard to its resolution of 23 June 2022 on the implementation and delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (5) (SDGs),

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having regard to its resolution of 7 July 2022 on Better regulation: Joining forces to make better laws (6),

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having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

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having regard to the report of the Committee on Development (A9-0019/2023),

A.

whereas Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) is a legal obligation deriving from the TEU and requires that the objective of development cooperation be taken into account in all EU policies likely to affect developing countries;

B.

whereas effective coordination, integration and evaluation of all EU policies regarding their impact on developing countries is essential to achieve PCD;

C.

whereas the EU’s political commitment to PCD was reaffirmed in the 2017 New European Consensus on Development, which identified PCD as a ‘crucial element of the [EU’s] strategy to achieve the SDGs and an important contribution to the broader objective of Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development (PCSD)’;

D.

whereas the 2018 external evaluation report for the Commission revealed serious shortcomings in the implementation of PCD, including a limited role for EU delegations; whereas a recent study commissioned by Parliament found that major problems persist; whereas the absence of an adequate response to the findings of the external evaluation report and the lack of evidence that appropriate action has been taken undermine the credibility of the EU’s actions on development cooperation; whereas the Council no longer holds regular exchanges with the Commission on PCD;

E.

whereas the principle of PCD is laid down in Article 208 TFEU and is recognised within the EU institutions and within multilateral frameworks as being a tool to pursue sustainable development and as being important for the credibility and reliability of the EU in partner countries; whereas PCD aims to ensure that external action policies that are likely to affect developing countries are economically and socially consistent with the objective of EU development cooperation, the primary objective of which remains reducing and, in the long term, eradicating poverty, as well as increasing the effectiveness of development cooperation;

F.

whereas the current global geopolitical context is marked, in particular, by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and its consequences, including a severe energy crisis, the refugee crisis, global debt distress and threats to food security and biodiversity, as well as climate change, and these problems are seriously threatening the global achievement of the SDGs such that a comprehensive response is necessary; whereas this further increases the need for effective implementation of PCD and of coherence and consistency between different policies, as in the case of the humanitarian-development nexus;

G.

whereas PCD mechanisms in the Commission include, among others, inter-service groups, stakeholder and public consultations, a PCD screening (tracker) of the Commission Work Programme, Tools 19, 27 and 35 in the impact assessment guidelines (revised Better Regulation Agenda), and the sustainability impact assessment of trade agreements; whereas the extent to which these arrangements are used varies and the quality of PCD work can only be measured by its concrete results; whereas there is no central body in the Commission responsible for the implementation of PCD; whereas in some cases the PCD analyses in the Commission’s impact assessments for recent legislative proposals are still superficial (e.g. the proposed carbon border adjustment mechanism (7), and the Environmental Crime Directive (8)) or have not been conducted despite the clear need for them (e.g. the anti-money laundering package, the directive (9) and regulation on corporate sustainability reporting); whereas this clearly shows that more action on the recommendations of the 2018 external evaluation of the PCD is needed; whereas EU delegations and EU Member States’ diplomatic missions should play a stronger role in ensuring PCD in partner countries; whereas the lack of a holistic approach towards, and a clear definition of, PCD can undermine its objectives and effectiveness;

H.

whereas despite the obvious relevance of PCD for important EU initiatives such as the European Green Deal, trade policy, global and EU corporate taxation standards, or corporate sustainability due diligence, PCD’s visibility on the European agenda and in partner countries has nevertheless decreased in recent years;

I.

whereas private sector involvement that serves development policy objectives, such as through blending operations, in which a limited amount of grant resources is used to catalyse additional financing, can effectively enhance PCD;

J.

whereas accountability, visibility and transparency are important aspects of development cooperation and must be applied to PCD; whereas a specific ‘EU report on PCD’ produced by the Commission every two years has been discontinued since 2019 and replaced by an EU report on the implementation of the SDGs produced every four years; whereas the Commission’s reporting is mostly of a general descriptive character and of little help in assessing the effectiveness of PCD; whereas this underlines the need for clear PCD targets and indicators and transparent monitoring;

K.

whereas, as co-legislator and a contributor to policy-making, Parliament bears much of the responsibility for the EU’s implementation of PCD; whereas its Committee on Development (DEVE) plays a key role in this through opinions to other committees; whereas for PCD to work properly a ‘whole-of-Parliament’ approach is needed, with active contributions from all parliamentary committees involved in different policies, which has so far rarely been the case; whereas there is a need for stronger coordination on PCD between the committees in Parliament;