I External aid

© UNHCR/R. LeMoyne
ANNUAL REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION’S EXTERNAL ASSISTANCE
More generally, the process of reforming the management of
external aid goes hand in hand with a search for a better relationship
between the priorities of the Community’s external
assistance policy and the budget resources allocated. During
the informal Council of Evian (2-3 September 2000) and the
General Affairs Council of 9 October 2000, the Ministers for
Foreign Affairs insisted on the strengthening of coherence in
the Union’s external action, the translation of objectives into
concrete commitments, and the improvement of synergies
between Community action and that of its Member States, so
that external action may become more visible and effective.
Following the initial debate (held on 23 January 2001), on
the direction the European Union was taking regarding its
assistance to third countries, the Commission developed
guidelines for strengthening operational co-operation between
the Community and its Member States in the field of
external aid.
As part of this effort, the Commission has prepared data
sheets showing, for each beneficiary country, the financial
assistance allocated by the Community (aid and bilateral
cooperation, macro-financial loans, and loans from the European
Investment Bank), bilateral assistance from Member
States, and multilateral assistance provided by Member
States via the EBRD, the IMF and the World Bank.
For the first time, a single document has been compiled
showing the commitments made on behalf of each country
since 2000, the new commitments agreed, the payments
made in 2000 and the outstanding amounts still due to
operations.
A New Policy
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