Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-02-06-Speech-3-066"
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"en.20020206.4.3-066"2
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Mr President, the Spanish Presidency of the European Union is delighted to appear before Parliament to give details of the current state of preparations for the International Conference on Financing for Development, which is due to take place in Monterrey (Mexico), from 18 to 22 March.
The agreement that has been concluded lays down that the fundamental pillars of international development cooperation are a series of principles shared by donors and beneficiaries and, in particular, the concept of good governance at all levels, the existence of solid democratic institutions and respect for the Rule of Law, all in the spirit of partnership, on the basis of which the developed States are committed to adopting a series of measures to make financing flows more flexible for developing countries – albeit with a set of conditions – enabling governments to use international cooperation to create domestic conditions favourable to economic growth and social development.
Developed countries also assume the obligation of promoting trade within the terms of the agreements adopted in the World Trade Organisation, which are generally considered to be the main driving force behind all economic activity. The developed States, after overseeing a reduction of official development aid in recent years, are now committed to increasing it.
This increase of resources is a commitment that applies to all donors, including the United States and Japan. The text adopted is in line with the Laeken Declaration and the entire document emphasises the private sector’s role as a driving force for development and as a source of resources.
The text also takes up the need to increase resources to strengthen the institutional capacity of developing countries, and to implement the entire Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative.
With regard to the international financial architecture, the autonomy of the existing institutions and the mandate of their boards of management will be upheld and support will be given to the process currently under way in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. At the same time, we will be insisting on the principles of coordination, of transparency and of the participation of the developing countries in the international financial institutions.
The mechanisms for following up the Conference were also the subject of intense debate, with the decision finally going to various methods of follow-up, at the spring meeting of the Economic and Social Council, with the Bretton Woods Institutions and with the participation of the World Trade Organisation, also including representatives of civil society and the private sector, and with high-level dialogue in the United Nations General Assembly, held every two years. At the same time, within the United Nations, the Secretariat-General has been asked to support the full use of existing mechanisms for coordinating the specialist agencies of the United Nations and the drawing up of an annual report on the work achieved in this area.
To this we can add a follow-up International Conference, whose concrete procedures will be defined by 2005. This set of instruments and these mechanisms are intended to ensure that the Monterrey Conference process remains on the agenda of the main international organisations and institutions, as well as in the fora of the United Nations, and of its specialised programmes and agencies.
I would not wish to end, Mr President, without mentioning some of the contributions made by the European Union, that arise in the text on more than one occasion. The European Parliament must be very aware, and we must be proud, of the firm position that the European Union has maintained throughout this Monterrey process.
I should like to list these contributions. Firstly, the concept of partnership and the insistence on the need for solid economic policies, good governance and democratic principles, and the defence of human rights. At the same time, the European Union has insisted on the participation of civil society in the development process.
Secondly, I should like to highlight the European Union’s position of emphasising the need for development to be sustainable and to incorporate economic, social and environmental aspects, whilst respecting, in all cases, gender equality and holding the fight against poverty to be a fundamental objective. The Presidency, therefore, regrets that it was not possible to include a specific reference to the innovative concept of public goods on a global scale, in the face of opposition, to the very last, both from the Group of 77 and from other donors, although it hopes that, given its importance, the discussions on its definition and financing will continue in the appropriate fora.
In recent months, the Monterrey Conference has come to occupy a prominent place on the so-called Development Agenda, particularly after the attacks of 11 September and with the realisation that the problems of development in a globalised world require our full, immediate and urgent attention.
Thirdly, the European Union has sought to highlight the link between the effectiveness and efficiency of official development aid and the implementation, by the beneficiaries of aid, of appropriate policies in the political, economic and social fields. These are policies focused on giving aid to those in greatest need, so that maximum benefit can be gained from this official development aid. In this way, the emphasis is focused not only on increasing the volume of resources, but on its effective use, with the fight against corruption also playing a key role and, furthermore, the commitment to continue with negotiations on the specific United Nations convention applying to this issue. Similarly, external debt relief has been linked to the effective use of these resources to achieve economic growth and a sustained development that benefits the least-favoured sectors of each country taking part in these mechanisms.
Naturally, the European Union has worked very actively with other major donors, such as the United States and Japan, and with the Group of 77, to achieve consensus on the objective of contributing 0.7% of GDP to development, which allows us to include the differing points of view, economic realities and sensitivities.
I wish to emphasise that, precisely because of this work, a similar terminology has been used in the Monterrey consensus to that approved at the Laeken European Council.
Fourthly, the European Union has made efforts, which have been crowned with success, to have explicit references included in the text on multilateral cooperation in light of the new transnational challenges and threats arising from the funding of terrorism and organised crime.
My fifth point is that the European Union has also worked actively to have specific references included in this text to private-sector banking and to the importance of the development of this sector in supporting small and medium-sized businesses in developing countries.
Lastly, the support measures to increase the institutional capacity of the developing countries in the field of trade should also be highlighted. For this reason, the Presidency sets great store by the package of practical measures that is being prepared by the competent services of the Commission, to increase developing countries’ negotiating power in the field of trade.
To sum up, following the fourth and last preparatory meeting, the Presidency is quite optimistic about the forthcoming Monterrey Conference. Despite the doubts that remained up until the last moment, we were able to adopt a final text on 27 January, almost two months before this important international meeting. The fact that this was achieved by consensus – as I have already mentioned – and that we managed to involve all the donors in this consensus, makes the Monterrey consensus a good platform for the future, because it is creating the climate of trust that this complex process requires and which, furthermore, now means that the round tables planned for Monterrey can take place in an atmosphere that is positive and constructive and not one of confrontation.
The Monterrey Conference needs to be an innovative event, by tackling development and the fight against poverty from an all-encompassing position, covering the various aspects and encouraging the participation of all players. This global vision gives the process as a whole an extraordinary complexity, which we must also tackle pragmatically and realistically, by means of work that makes inclusion – and not exclusion – the main objective of all those who are committed to cooperation development tasks. We hope that the international campaign that is announced in Article 62 of the document, as one of the Millennium objectives, will also contribute to this.
Mr President, I can ensure this Parliament that the Council Presidency remains firmly committed to this approach and that the success of the Conference is still our main objective, especially if we take account of the fact that development cooperation policy must be one of the pillars on which the European Union’s external action is based, and must be in perfect harmony with other pillars such as the external and common security policies and trade policy.
For this reason, we are sure that the Monterrey Conference offers us an historic opportunity for the European Union to be able to project and transmit, together with the rest of the participants in that event, a clear message in defence of the values we hold dear. Therefore, we consider that the defence of the democracy, of good governance, of strengthening the institutional development of aid-receiving countries, the Rule of Law, peace and security, and human rights, are crucial elements of economic and social development as a whole.
This widespread interest justifies the efforts made by everyone who attended the fourth meeting of the Conference’s Preparatory Committee, which has just been held in New York, and which concluded with the adoption of a text that will be submitted for the approval of the Heads of State and Government that are due to attend the Monterrey Summit.
It is no accident that this document, which I shall discuss briefly a little later, is entitled “The Monterrey Consensus”. Given that the Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey is undoubtedly one of the most important events in the field of cooperation during our Presidency, Spain wishes to attach special priority to this event and this priority is reflected in the level of the official representation. By this I mean that the Community delegation to the Monterrey Summit will be led by the President of the Spanish Government, the President-in-Office of the European Council.
The preparations for the Conference, Mr President, have been extraordinarily complex, given their exhaustive nature and the huge number of individuals that have been involved in the discussions.
I should like to take this opportunity to thank the previous Presidencies of the Union for the considerable effort they have made throughout this process, since it has been a gradual process to bring us up to the point we have now reached. This ongoing and joint effort now means that, in Monterrey, the European Union can play the leading role it deserves as the world’s major donor of official development aid.
Before I highlight and discuss the features of the text adopted in New York, I should like, Mr President, to put the Monterrey Conference in the proper context, because it is not an isolated process. Instead, it is part of what was started by the Millennium Declaration, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2000, on sustainable development and the fight against world poverty.
We are, therefore, facing three independent but closely related procedures. Firstly, trade, within the framework of the commitments adopted at the conference of the World Trade Organisation held in Doha. Secondly, everything that concerns the mobilisation of financial resources, the United Nations Conference on Financing for Development and, thirdly, in the field of the environment, the Conference on sustainable development that is planned to take place in Johannesburg in September of this year.
I shall now refer briefly to the features of the Monterrey document, the famous Monterrey consensus that I mentioned earlier. This final text, adopted
since a formal closing session could not be held in New York, consists of 73 numbered sections and reflects the spirit of consensus in which it was drawn up. Because it does not contain any unresolved elements, since everything has been agreed on, we hope that the Heads of State and Government will be able to maintain a genuine, frank and open political dialogue on the main issues that affect development and its current challenges."@en1
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