5 June Development Council

Date: 12/06/1997

EU development ministers debated the future of trade with and aid to their African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) partners under the Lome Convention. They discussed different approaches to richer and poorer countries, stronger political ties and possible expansion of the convention. The Commission said it would produce an 'orientation paper' at the end of the autumn on relations between the EU and the ACP, to be followed by a negotiating mandate for the post-Lome negotiations, which are due to begin in September 1998. Development Commissioner Joao de Deus Pinheiro said that he would seek approval to use European development funds in Somalia, even though it was not a Lome Convention member.

MINISTERS discussed a Court of Auditors report which generally praised the Commission's deployment of humanitarian aid, but called for greater cohesion and coordination in EU policy. They took note of the Court's recommendations to ease project identification, monitoring and implementation, and acknowledged both the need for a closer look at humanitarian aid budgetary procedures and the Commission's demand for more staff.

GREATER coherence was needed in EU policies in general, said ministers, especially where they affected peace-building, conflict prevention, food security and migration. In a resolution, they declared that “existing institutional arrangements should be further enhanced to ensure that aspects relating to policy incoherence are examined and dealt with properly.” A number of delegations cited a lack of coordination in agriculture, trade and environmental policies. The Commission will be asked to present a progress report by the second half of 1998.

MINISTERS also demanded closer ties between the EU and its member states, commenting on a report showing that cooperation was far more advanced in some recipient countries than others. The Council will attempt to set out new procedural guidelines by the summer.

REACTING to a report on food aid from 1989-1994, ministers said its conclusions “put in doubt the usefulness of the food aid programme”, although they judged that EU-level action was better than bilateral aid.

Ministers noted that the Commission was redesigning its approach to food aid.

IN A resolution, the Council stressed the contribution research projects could make to development and called for more partnership between policy-makers in both fields. Ministers called for a Commission policy paper on indigenous peoples, with a view to adopting a resolution in November this year, and accepted the need for co-financing of non-governmental organisations.