Post 2015: Global Action for an Inclusive and Sustainable Future

(com, 2011). the aid-effectiveness agenda and
its application to Eu policies, programmes and
instruments can be applied more thoroughly
in many areas. there is now a need to move
forward on coordination and complementarity
through long-standing commitments to
improve joint programming and the ‘division
of labour’ among the Eu institutions and the
member States.
• Policy Coherence for Development: It remains
crucial to make tangible progress in promoting
pcD, which should imply that other policies,
such as security or trade, at least ‘do no harm’
to the objectives of development cooperation,
and at best reinforce development progress. It
is not easy to make progress on achieving pcD
and the Eu has made more efforts than most, but
the impact of these efforts remain limited even
in cases where negative impacts for development
are most apparent. For instance, the Eu has
long-standing difficulties in reconciling its own
domestic interests, particularly in agriculture
and fisheries policy, with those of developing
countries and more concrete efforts are needed to
resolve such tensions. Yet having stated its pcD
objectives it is important for the Eu’s credibility
to make tangible progress and show results.
• International negotiations: providing it is
united, the Eu’s international standing and
membership gives it considerable potential to
shape existing and contribute to creating new
international regimes that can support global
public policy goals (Gänzle et al., 2012). However,
for the Eu to be more effective in exercising
this role it should continue to improve the
articulation of its external representation and
its place in international organisations. the Eu
and its member States are very visible in global
institutions, but are not always organised in the
best way. a more effective external policy could
contribute to increasing the collective weight
of the Eu and its member States in shaping
international regimes and securing the reform
of the global governance architecture. While it
is difficult to push for global public policies, the
Eu is in a stronger position than many to foster
debate in favour of a development-friendly review
of existing and potential international regimes.
the Eu’s contribution to any post-2015 framework
should largely be assessed on its ability to provide
effective support ‘beyond aid’. Its ability to do this
will depend partly on the willingness of the wider
international community to move beyond a narrow
focus on oDa and engage in collective action on
wider GpG goals, but also on the Eu’s own levels
of ambition and commitment.
the four case studies conducted for this
report recognised the value of Eu development
assistance in varying degrees, but also stressed the
importance of Eu support in other ‘beyond aid’
areas. Development-friendly trade agreements,
sharing knowledge on systems of social protection,
improving global financial governance and
transparency, new technology (particularly to
confront climate challenges) and conflict-sensitive
interventions in fragile environments were all
cited as examples of areas where Eu support was
welcomed (see also box 10.5).
this report examined three international drivers
of development in particular: development finance,
trade and investment and labour migration. aspects
of the roles that the Eu has been playing and could
improve on in each of these areas in promoting a
post-2015 framework are summarised below (table
10.1).
In conclusion, while the Eu has made strong
contributions to the achievement of the mDGs,
the overall balance of its performance across these
four key roles is mixed. this suggests a need for the
Eu to improve, particularly in areas ‘beyond aid’.
the Eu has been part of the solution in supporting
a strongly oDa-focused mDG framework. If, as
poSt-2015: Global actIon For an IncluSIvE anD SuStaInablE FuturE
The EU is a major
and respected
player in part
because it sets
itself high
standards. In
doing so it also
sets an example
that other might
follow and its
performance
therefore needs
to be critically
examined in
order to suggest
where it might be
further improved.
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