The European Consensus on Development
Description
The new European Consensus on Development, adopted in June 2017, represents a new joint vision for development policy for the EU and its Member States. The new Consensus is part of Europe’s response to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals. The text is structured around the '5 Ps' framing the 2030 Agenda.
The main objective of the European Consensus on Development is to have a common framework for implementing the SDGs through development policy between the EU and its Member States. <br />
The EU and its Member States together provide almost 60% of global Official Development Assistance. In this light, Working Better Together for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda is crucial and, as a first step, the Consensus brought the development policies of the EU and its Member States in line with the SDGs.<br />
Poverty eradication remains the primary objective of development policy under the new Consensus. At the same time, it integrates the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. It also underlines the links between development and other policies, including peace and security, humanitarian aid, migration, the environment and climate change.<br />
The Consensus recognises the interlinkages between SDGs and states that, when planning and implementing development cooperation, the EU and its Member States will pay particular attention to such interlinkages and to integrated actions that can create co-benefits and meet multiple objectives in a coherent way. <br />
The Consensus reaffirms that the EU and its Member States will continue to play a key role in ensuring that no-one is left behind, wherever people live and regardless of ethnicity, gender, age, disability, religion or beliefs, sexual orientation and gender identity, migration status or other factors. This approach includes addressing the multiple discriminations faced by vulnerable people and marginalised groups.
The Consensus was signed in June 2017 as a Joint statement by the European Commission, the European Parliament, and Council of the European Union and the representatives of the governments of the Member States meeting within the Council. Since its adoption, a lot of progress has been made to align the development policies of the EU and its Member States to the 2030 Agenda and the Consensus.
The EU and its Member States will prepare a Joint Synthesis Report on the Consensus on Development including the impact of their actions in support of the 2030 Agenda in developing countries, as a contribution to EU reporting to the UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF) every four years. The first Joint Synthesis Report will be issued for the first time by May this year.
Looking ahead, the EU should actively engage with partner countries through policy dialogues based on the SDGs. This should include cooperation on policies and initiatives to nationalise the SDGs (e.g. integration of the SDGs into national development plans, Voluntary National Reviews for the HLPF, financing strategies and reporting based on the SDGs).
In order to better report on how development policy is contributing to the achievement of the SDGs by our partner countries, the European Commission has revised its Results Framework in line with the SDGs. The yearly External Assistance Management Report will also gather information on how our delegations are supporting partner countries in implementing the SDGs. This information will feed into the different kinds of reporting on the contribution of EU development policy to SDG implementation. Many Member States have also realigned their bilateral reporting systems and other processes in development policy to reflect the SDGs.
Progress towards a better integration of SDGs was also made in the proposal for the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI), which is the legal basis that sets the priorities and amounts for EU international cooperation from 2021-2028.
The Consensus also allows the EU to better work with its Member States. Through Joint Programming, the EU and its Member States aim to work better together for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. In the proposal for the new financial instrument on Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation, Joint Programming will be the preferred approach for country programming.
- The EU has always been a frontrunner when it comes to sustainability. Sustainable Development is firmly anchored in the EU Treaties and the EU played a key role in the UN developing and adopting the Sustainable Development Goals.
Specific constraints:
- For the adoption of the European Consensus on Development: the many actors that were involved and the institutional adoption process that was complex.
- For the implementation of the European Consensus: the SDGs cover the whole of projects, processes, of the development policies of the Commission and the EU Member States. As a result, the main challenge is to coordinate between all the relevant actors.
- Success of the Consensus is part of a broader EU effort to implement the SDGs through internal and external policies. First, it means that the EU’s internal work on the SDGs and its external projection have to be addressed as two sides of the same coin. Secondly, within this overarching framework, there is a need for an active acknowledgement that it in the EU’s interest to play a leading role in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda also globally through its external action. The EU Global Strategy for the EU’s Foreign and Security Policy recognises the importance of the SDGs as a cross-cutting priority, and concerted efforts are needed by the EU and its Member States in their dealings with the rest of the world.
Regarding costs, implementing the European Consensus entails going beyond official development assistance by mobilising and making effective use of all means of implementation, in line with the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.
- The European Consensus on Development represents a new common framework for development policy for the EU and for all our Member States fully aligned with the 2030 Agenda. It signals a new era of more coordinated and effective EU action in development to support partner countries to implement the SDGs. <br />
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- The European Consensus on Development has led to a change of mind-set where all policies, initiatives and programmes of the Commission and Member States in the field of international cooperation and development policy needed to be brought in line with the SDGs. <br />
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- The EU should actively engage with partner countries through policy dialogues based on the SDGs.<br />
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- A four yearly reporting through the Joint Synthesis Report, the first of which taking place this year, is also a way to improve coordination between relevant EU services and the EU Member States.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:C:2017:210:F…
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Contact Information
Laia Pinos Mataro, Policy Officer