European Aid to countries in the Mediterranean, South Caucuses and Eastern Europe. Imposed development and governance models?

Sunday 21st January 2007

European institutions are in the process of programming European community aid to the Mediterranean, Southern Caucasus and Eastern Europe for the period 2007-2013. Civil society actors from these regions have come together in the context of the World Social Forum in Nairobi to analyse European aid.
In a workshop co-organised by the Arab NGO Network for Development, Eurostep, LDC Watch and Social Watch, activists from the Middle East, Maghreb and Eastern Europe region have called on the EU to deliver on social justice, sustainable development, women’s rights and the fight against poverty in the region.
While some of the funds under the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) are supposed to be targeting Europe’s short term security, Magdy Abdelhamid, director of the Egyptian Association for Societal Development declared that “Europe has a wrong understanding of security. European security is wider than migration, the fight against terrorism and certain technical aspects of security. Security will be reached with increased stability in the Mediterranean and this can only happen through democracy and the fight against poverty.”
Commenting on the impact of the Euro-Mediterranean free trade area, Ziad Abdel Samad, executive director of the Arab NGO Network for Development, said that “European aid policies should not be based on the assumption that free trade is the panacea. Aid should leave space for its recipients to make their own economic and social choices.”
While many countries covered by the ENPI are highly dependant on agriculture, Alessia Bertelli, campaigns officer at Oxfam Novib, highlighted the need to reform the Common Agricultural Policy to allow EU neighbours to retain their food sovereignty. This was illustrated by Valentin Burada, ENP expert at the Civil Society Development Foundation Romania who asked “how can the European neighbourhood Instrument be helping Moldova, when the Common Agricultural Policy is at the same time diminishing its capabilities?”.
Finally participants agreed to work collectively to ensure a strong participation of civil society actors both in the discussions on the programming of ENPI funds and in their implementation. This seminar will be followed up by an event on the programming of the ENPI organised on 6th February 2007 in Brussels by Eurostep together with Aprodev, WomNet and WWF.