A3-0293/93

Resolution on increased coordination of the development aid provided by the Member States and the Community

The European Parliament,

-having regard to the motion for a resolution by Mr Fernández-Albor on Community harmonization of the Third World development aid granted by the Member States (B3-0456/90),

-having regard to the Council resolutions of 5 June 1984, 31 May 1988, 16 May 1989 and its declaration of 18 November 1992,

-having regard to the Treaty on European Union,

-having regard to the communication from the Commission to the Council and Parliament concerning development cooperation policy in the run-up to 2000 (SEC(92)0915),

-having regard to the Commission communications concerning 'priority areas for the coordination of development cooperation policies between the Community and the Member States' and 'procedures for coordination between the Community and the Member States at the political and operational levels' and the conclusions of the 'Development' Council of 25 May 1993 relating to priority areas for coordination (COM(93)0123 and COM(93)0195),

-having regard to the report of the Committee on Development and Cooperation (A3-0293/93),

A.having regard to the principle of the coherence of foreign policy measures postulated by the Treaty on European Union and to the coordinating role assigned to the Community in foreign policy in general and development policy in particular,

B.whereas the volume of the official development aid of the Member States of the Community constitutes about 40% of global official aid; whereas the effectiveness of this aid can be improved by closer coordination between the Member States and with the Community,

C.whereas genuine coordination of the aid activities of the Community and its Member States would enhance the Community's external relations and its image,

D.having regard to the traditional links based on long-standing bilateral relations between some Member States and developing countries,

E.regretting that bilateral development aid is still partly influenced by national economic and political considerations, as a result of which donor countries are reluctant to coordinate their projects or to exchange information about them,

1.Considers that the Community must accord cooperation and development the importance they deserve in the foreign policy context; expresses its grave concern at the gravity of the problems created throughout the world, taken into account at the 1992 UNCED, connected with poverty, the environment and imbalance, exacerbated by rural depopulation and urbanization; is convinced that the use of increased coordination will enable greater convergence of policy to be achieved both between the various agencies and in the various fields;

2.Considers that the industrialized nations have a special responsibility for solving these problems and that the Community and its Member States will be able to help do so effectively if they take coordinated action;

3.Stresses that the Treaty of Maastricht gives the Community increased powers; notes that the legal measures already exist to improve coordination, but that a stronger political will is needed in order to breathe life into them; asserts that it is necessary to enhance coordination at three levels: the political level, the level of operational coordination (particularly for urgent humanitarian aid), which should be a priority, and the level of international organizations;

4.Calls on the Commission, with a view to greater Community responsibility to seek, together with the Member States, new forms of multilateral coordination; such initiatives should be coordinated among Member States which have specialized in areas such as the environment, energy, infrastructure and large-scale projects;

5.Considers that action in the field of development cooperation which can be performed better by the EC than by the individual Member States should be made a Community responsibility; considers that in a number of fields in which the Community has a specific responsibility in view of its historical links, such as the Lomé Convention, it can supplement the Member States' policies, and that efforts should be made, through close cooperation and coordination, to ensure that these policies are rooted in a common strategy for the development of the developing countries;

6.Points out that Article 130u of the EC Treaty defines common policy areas: sustainable economic and social development, the campaign against poverty, and democracy and human rights; calls for these objectives to be supplemented with Parliament's participation and extended to other policies such as health, training and education, energy, infrastructure, agriculture and the environment;

7.Considers that the Commission has an extensive coordinating role in the field of emergency aid and welcomes the establishment of the 'ECHO' service in this connection, pending further information; considers, however, that the service should be more easily accessible to NGOs;

8.Stresses that the goal of coordination should not be a centralization or reduction of the volume of development aid; recalls the Member States' commitment to devote 0.7% of GDP to development policy; considers that the European Development Fund's inclusion in the budget would increase its Community character;

9.Considers that the Community should use its full political and economic influence with international development aid organizations to assert the specific principles of the Community's development policy and that consultation between Member States and the Community can help to achieve this;

10.Wishes the Commission and the Member States, with improved coordination, to reinforce their critical attitude to the structural adjustment policies of the Bretton Woods institutions, as provided for in the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union, and wishes the Community's point of view, i.e. that any structural adjustment measures must take account of the interests of the people affected, to influence decision-making;

11.Stresses in particular the need to include the issue of the developing countries' national debt as one of the areas of coordination; considers that the debt issue must be dealt with at Community level and that it is essential for a policy decision to be taken to cancel the debts of the least developed countries and to agree on rescheduling the debts of the developing countries, taking into consideration what is actually feasible and socially tolerable;

12.Considers it essential that the other Community policies, especially the trade, agriculture, fisheries, industry and environment policies, should take account of the requirements of development policy and thus strive for greater consistency, ensuring internal EC policy coordination, in accordance with the Maastricht Treaty;

13.Stresses that the effectiveness of development cooperation must be improved not only through closer coordination among the Member States themselves and between the Member States and the Community, but also by improving monitoring to ensure that spending is carried out in an effective and correct manner; in this connection, again calls for the establishment of a European field inspection service; believes that democratic monitoring of spending and transparency of responsibilities necessarily entail incorporation of the European Development Fund in the budget;

14.Hopes that the management committees responsible for the EDF and the developing countries of Asia and Latin America and the Mediterranean will concern themselves more with the long-term assessment of Community policy by means of indicators of progress achieved and concentrate more on developing ideas and exchanging information on policy aims in the field of bilateral policy;

15.Considers that the vital need to coordinate development cooperation makes it essential at Community level to 'untie' spending by the Community and the various Member States;

16.Stresses the need for a decentralized approach to coordination on the ground, both when planning projects and monitoring their implementation; calls on the Commission, now that the Maastricht Treaty has been ratified, to speed up the process of simplifying procedures and harmonizing methods of documentation and book-keeping; calls on the Commission to consider to what extent it can enhance the role of the delegations by increasing their staff numbers, giving them appropriate training, extending their areas of responsibility and streamlining procedures so as to improve on-the-spot coordination with local authorities, the people concerned and the representatives of the Member States; considers, in this connection, that it is vital to increase budgetary resources for the Commission's DG I and DG VIII;

17.Will take the initiative to convene a biennial conference, to which the members of its Committee on Development and Cooperation and the appropriate members of the national parliaments of the Member States will be invited, the aim being to measure the policy of the Community and its Member States against the objectives laid down in Title XVII of the Treaty on European Union;

18.Reaffirms that the coordination of development aid is being increased with a view to European Union, which, in the longer term, must lead to a greater transfer of development policy responsibility to the Community;

19.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the governments of the Member States.