Development cooperation: complementarity between community and Member states policies

The committee unanimously adopted a report by Concepció FERRER (EPP-ED, E) on the Commission communication on complementarity between Community and Member State policies on development cooperation. The report highlighted the lack of political will on the part of the Member States: for too long, the Member States' different outlooks on development aid had prevented the EU from implementing a coherent development policy, in which the Community's and the Member States' policies would complement one another, and this had undermined its credibility as the world's largest public donor. The Commission also came under fire for its piecemeal approach to reforming EU development policy and its inadequate proposals. The committee called for a specific action plan and pressed the Commission to base EU aid on the "three Cs" of "consistency, coordination and coherence". It also called for decision-making to be devolved, in the EU and the Member States' administrations, and out in the field in the countries receiving aid. The Commission's resources should be boosted and Community staff managing development cooperation funds increased. Where the Commission and Member States had coordinated their positions, for example at the Beijing and Cairo conferences, the results had been very positive. The committee therefore called on the Secretary-General of the Council and foreign policy supremo, Javier SOLANA, to examine the scope for coordination in international fora. �