PAF - ProActive File
Regular News Update From Eurostep

No. 191   Friday, 4 August  2000

Eurostep Home Page

1.      COMMISSION DEVELOPS GUIDELINES FOR POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY PAPERS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The European Commission’s Directorate for Development (DG Development) has prepared preliminary guidelines for the preparation and assessment of the interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) being developed by the IMF and the World Bank. According to DG Development’s website this move follows intense correspondence between the EU Commissioner for Development, Mr Poul Nielson, and the top management of the World Bank and the IMF.

In the guidelines the Commission expresses its support for the PRSP process while stressing the importance of the Commission’s involvement in their design. According to the Commission guidelines,

“PRSPs … will not be negotiated or imposed by the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs), but developed in a participatory process by all stakeholders, including civil society and donors. ..The PRSP concept implies greater coordination of donor support for agreed public expenditure plans which are focused on poverty reduction. It implies a move towards higher levels of budget support either in the context of general macro-economic financing or specific sector programmes which is firmly in line with Commission policy as it has been developed in the context of negotiating the new EC-ACP Partnership Agreement.”

The Commission’s initial focus will be on countries eligible for support under the Enhanced Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, where PRSPs are required to access debt relief. Beyond HIPCs, the Commission acknowledges that PRSPs would need to be developed in all countries seeking the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, which replaces the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility.

The Commission sees its role in the development of PRSPs as two-fold, i.e.: a) playing a role in their design; and b) assessing their content once they are designed. The bulk of the Commission’s work in this process is to be done by its delegations in developing countries.

See http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/sector/poverty_reduction/ for an entire copy of the Commission Guidance notes, as well as correspondence between Commissioner Nielson and the IMF and the World Bank, and interim assessments made by the Commission on specific developing countries.

2. FURTHER MOVEMENT ON DATES FOR ACP-EU REGIONAL SEMINARS ON PROGRAMMING OF AID

A European Commission representative has informed the PAF, that following a meeting, this week, between ACP and Commission officials, another change has been made to the dates of the regional seminars on the programming of aid under the new Cotonou Agreement. The date for the Central Africa seminar in Gabon has been postponed from September to November 2000. The dates for the other regional meetings remain the same. The dates for the seminars are as follows:

One civil representative from each ACP country is supposed to be invited to participate in the seminar of his/her region. ACP civil society representatives who wish to participate should contact their government minister responsible for ACP-EU co-operation (NAO). Commission delegations in ACP countries may also be contacted for further information.

The seminars are supposed to explain the new process for programming of aid under the new Cotonou Agreement. Country strategy papers and National Indicative Programmes for all ACP countries are supposed to be finalised by the end of June 2001.

Meanwhile the second group of transitional measures bridging the gap between the expired Lomé IV Convention and the new Cotonou Agreement entered into force on August 2.

3. ACP-EU JOINT PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY - BRUSSELS 9-12 OCTOBER – SUBJECTS FOR RESOLUTIONS

a) Urgent subjects relating to the situation in different countries or regions:

West Africa (Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, ....)

Central Africa and Great Lakes (C.A.R., Burundi, D.R.C., ....)

Southern Africa (Zimbabwe, ........)

East Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea, ...........)

Caribbean (Belize, Haiti, bananas and commodities, ...)

Pacific (PNG, Fiji, Solomon Islands, .....)

b) Subjects and themes relating to development co-operation between the EU and the ACP:

Traffic of human beings

Follow-up to the UN Beijing Conference

Follow-up to UN Copenhagen - Geneva Conferences

Fishing issues (artisanal fishing)

Under the new Cotonou Agreement, the Joint Parliamentary Assembly, (made up representatives of ACP national parliaments and a group of European parliamentarians), is supposed to organise regular contacts with representatives of ACP and EU civil society, in order to obtain their views on the achievement of the aims of the Agreement. It meets twice a year alternately in the EU and in an ACP State.

4. EU-ASEAN MINISTERIAL MEETING IN DECEMBER

Following last week’s meeting between ASEAN and the EU, on the margins of the Forum for Regional Security in Asia in Bangkok, the two parties have begun preparations for the EU-ASEAN ministerial meeting in Laos on 11-12 December 2000. At the political level the EU wants to discuss the situation in Burma, trafficking in human beings, and money laundering. At the economic level, the EU would like to re-enforce dialogue on trade issues with ASEAN countries. The EU-ASEAN Agreement has not been extended to Burma, which joined ASEAN after EU-ASEAN co-operation was formalised.

5. FRENCH PRESIDENCY AIM TO CLARIFY EU FOREIGN POLICY PRIORITIES

The French Presidency of the EU has called for a discussion on EU foreign policy priorities at next month’s informal EU General Affairs Council meeting on 2-3 September, in response to the debate launched on the issue by EU External Affairs Commission Chris Patten.  Patten in his paper, released this June, said the EU needed to be more rigorous in setting its priorities; claiming that though the EU’s poverty focus is an important part of development policy, it should not be allowed to distort the EU’s strategic focus. (See PAF 185) Patton also suggested that the EU should identify priority policy areas for specific periods, e.g. focussing the bulk of its resources on the Balkans for the next few years until the region is stabilised, then given priority to Latin America and Asia later.

According to the European press while EU Foreign Ministers broadly agree with Pattten’s analysis they are not enthusiastic about given more power to the Commission as Patten wants. French Minister for Foreign Affairs and President in Office of the EU General Affairs Council, Hubert Vedrine, has accused Patten of trying to take the powers of a foreign minister. EU diplomats say in order to improve the EU’s effectiveness in foreign policy, the procedure for allocating money to external relations projects, whereby all decisions involving € 5 million or more have to be approved by EU Member States, will have to be changed. The diplomats argue that this limit should be raised to allow decisions to be taken more rapidly.

Updated on 4 August 2000
Please address comments to (Guggi Laryea/Yvette Pierret)
Developer's Note: These pages were developed for use on the Netscape browser.