Policy Coherence for Development

Development policy is one policy domain in the EU's external relations that can often clash with other EU policies, for example on trade, fisheries, agriculture, climate and energy.

And although Article 208 of the Lisbon Treaty obliges the EU to make striving towards the eradication of poverty its top priority, objectives in these policy domains frequently contradict development goals, so in practice the principle of policy coherence for development is often undermined.

The Greens believe that development policy is one of the main instruments of international solidarity.

Policy coherence in development should therefore be effectively mainstreamed, to prevent it from remaining a mere paper promise.

Accordingly, we demanded that an MEP on the Committee on Development should be assigned to regularly evaluate the EU's performance with regard to policy coherence in development.

Another safety mechanism would entail allowing developing countries to use a set procedure to lodge complaints whenever they observed policy coherence being violated.

The Greens succeeded in establishing a 'standing rapporteur' within the Committee on Development.

That post was first held by Birgit Schnieber-Jastram (EPP), before passing to Charles Goerens, until the end of the legislature in 2014.

The Greens did not succeed in introducing a complaint procedure for developing countries. Such a mechanism would have been attached to the European Ombudsman.

Many groups who otherwise claim to favour international solidarity and development rejected the idea, including the S&D.