EU development policy [What Think Tanks are thinking]

Written by Marcin Grajewski

During his annual ‘State of the Union’ speech on 9 September in Strasbourg, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, called for a bolstering of European development policy. He urged member states to increase their development aid spending and announced the creation of a 1.8 billion euro trust fund for Africa.

The European Union’s development policy is a key instrument in its relations with the outside world, with the objective of eradicating poverty in a context of sustainable development. However, the Union and many of its member states are reducing, rather than increasing, their development aid budgets in real terms, at a time of financial pressure.

This note provides background to this discussion, by bringing together a selection of recent analyses and studies by major international think tanks and research institutes on development policy and related issues, with hyperlinks to the texts concerned.

10 things to know about climate change and financing for development

Overseas Development Institute, July 2015

There can be no sustainable development without social accountability Friends of Europe, July 2015

Trade and investment agreements for sustainable development?

Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), July 2015

The EIB: An effective implementing partner for European Development Policy Friends of Europe, July 2015

European aid and development policies in a changing world: Some personal reflections

European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), June 2015

Handels- und Investitionsabkommen als Beitrag zu nachhaltiger Entwicklung? Lehren aus dem Wirtschaftspartnerschaftsabkommen der EU mit karibischen Staaten SWP, June 2015

European Report on Development 2015: Combining finance and policies to implement a transformative post-2015 development agenda Overseas Development Institute (ODI) et al., May 2015

Financing for Development: The challenge of implementing SDGs Friends of Europe, April 2015

Goals for the rich: Indispensable for a universal post-2015 agenda Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, March 2015

Sahel strategies: Why coordination is imperative Institute for Security Studies, ECDPM, March 2015

Avant la lettre? The EU’s comprehensive approach (to crises) in the Sahel ECDPM, February 2015

Universality and differentiation in the post-2015 development agenda ECDPM, February 2015

EU state-building contracts: Early lessons from the EU’s new budget support instrument for fragile states Overseas Development Institute, February 2015

À l’aube de l’ère de l’après-OMD? ECDPM, January 2015

Gaps between comprehensive approaches of the EU and EU Member States: Scoping study

ECDPM, December 2014

Use of PCD indicators by a selection of EU Member States ECDPM, January 2015

New donors, New partners? EU strategic partnerships and development Fride, December 2014

Re-thinking the EU’s development paradigm: Views from Morocco and Tunisia

European Policy Centre (EPC), January 2015

The dawn of the post-MDG era? ECDPM, January 2015

Desarrollo global y países emergentes: Retos para la política de cooperación de la UE

Barcelona Centre for International Affairs, December 2014

The future of ACP-EU relations post-2020 ECDPM, December 2014

EU external action in the field of development cooperation policy: The impact of the Lisbon Treaty

Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies, November 2014

First strategic and technical meeting on the operationalization of the Africa-EU Roadmaps 2014-2017 governance priority Africa Governance Institute, November 2014

L’UE sollicite la participation du secteur privé au développement : Création d’un guichet unique ?

ECDPM, November 2014

Der neue EU-Entwicklungskommissar: vom Anwalt der Armen zum Mitgestalter globaler Entwicklungen? Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik, November 2014

Scenarios for increased EU donor coordination: What is the right level of aid coordination?

Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik, October 2014

Development and the India-EU strategic partnership: Missing incentives and divergent identities

Egmont, Fride, October 2014

The EU and its partners on development: How strategic on the ground? Egmont, Fride, October 2014

Other related publications:

The path to an upgraded EU foreign policy Carnegie Europe, June 2015

When Peace is the Exception: Shifting the Donor Narrative in South Sudan Clingendael, June 2015

Which role should the EU play in international relations? Understanding the post-Lisbon foreign policy at times of change Istituto Affari Internazionali, May 2015

Fragile states: An Urgent challenge for EU foreign policy Fride, March 2015

A world without order? Clingendael, February 2015

Resetting EU external action: Potential and constraints Institut Jacques Delors, February 2015

From policies to politics: The European Union as an international mediator in the Mediterranean

European Institute of the Mediterranean, February 2015

From ‘business as usual’ to ‘business for peace’? Unpacking the conflict-sensitivity narrative

Clingendael, February 2015

Fine-tuning EU foreign policy: A joint approach between the new Commission and the European External Action Service? Finnish Institute of International Affairs, January 2015

Challenges for European Foreign Policy in 2015: How others deal with disorder Fride, January 2015

The European Union and the humanitarian initiative in the 2015 non-proliferation treaty review cycle EU Non-Proliferation Consortium, December 2014

Preventing corruption in humanitarian operations Transparency International, December 2014

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