Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-07-11-Speech-3-432"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20070711.35.3-432"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Madam President, honourable Members, it is a great pleasure to be here. I would like to thank Parliament and, in particular, the members of the Development Committee for the constructive dialogue that we have been able to conduct in the framework of the democratic scrutiny of our draft strategy papers.
Lastly, as far as your point on budget support is concerned, I would like to stress that the Commission applies strict eligibility criteria which are reassessed before each and every budget support disbursement. In the areas of policy and strategy, and of macroeconomic stability and public financial management, when selecting countries which should receive budget support, I have tried to deal with the main elements of your resolution. Please rest assured that you will receive detailed information on your observations when we send you the annual action programmes in the framework of your
under comitology. The Commission remains prepared to discuss the annual action programmes before the appropriate bodies of Parliament.
I have on several occasions, notably in my joint letter with my colleague, Louis Michel, to the chair of the Development Committee of 26 March, reiterated our commitment to carefully examining the committee’s observations on the strategy papers in the preparation of the annual action programmes and in the implementation of our projects and programmes. We are now in the preparation phase of these programmes. Some of them have already been forwarded to you and the remaining ones will be sent to you by this autumn in conformity with Article 8 of the Comitology Decision. Attached to these annual action programmes, you will also receive synoptic tables explaining in detail how your observations have been taken into account or why it was not feasible to do so.
Additionally, this week in a separate letter to Mr Borrell, I illustrated the manner in which we have considered your remarks and how these have been transposed in the annual action programmes that have already been sent to you. I am therefore somewhat disappointed to hear of a motion for a resolution critical of the Commission’s programming. I would hope that this will not call into question the spirit of open dialogue and cooperation that we are displaying and that we are ready to continue to pursue.
Please allow me now to address some of the issues raised by the Parliament on several occasions, notably in your motion for a resolution. We are, of course, fully committed to the overarching objective of poverty alleviation and the achievement of the millennium development goals under the Development Cooperation Instrument. I would like to point out very clearly that all activities planned under our country strategy papers are development activities and fall within the priority sectors identified in the DCI. It must be stressed at this point that the regulation also states that we need to pursue differentiated approaches depending on the individual development contacts and needs of every country concerned. The development needs of, for instance, Bangladesh are not the same as those of Brazil. We agree with Parliament’s view that health and education play a significant role in poverty eradication and the achievement of the millennium development goals.
At this point, I would like to reiterate the Commission’s commitment to respecting the agreed 20% benchmarking on social sectors by 2009 through project programmes or budget support linked to those sectors, taking an average across all the geographical areas. The first multiannual indicative programmes for 2007-2010 already show a clear contribution to the overall benchmark for basic health and education. The annual action programmes under approval for 2007 confirmed this. As soon as projects and programmes are in the implementation phase, we will provide Parliament with detailed statistics.
On official development assistance eligibility, I would like to reassure you that in the preparation of the annual action programmes we have ensured and will ensure full compliance with the DCI’s provisions regarding the OECD/DAC criteria for geographical programmes, whilst at the same time maintaining the flexibility provided for in the regulation for thematic programmes. Of course, an official assessment of this compliance will be made during the mid-term review which will start in 2009. The Commission intends to make proposals to modify the regulations if it considers it appropriate.
As regards stakeholder consultations, we are well aware that further improvements still need to take place in the consultation process, including the participation of local and regional authorities. It is, however, also a principle of our development assistance that it should be partner-country-led and contribute to the national development plans. So we are trying our utmost to encourage the national authorities in each country to consult their national parliaments, regional and local authorities and civil society on their own development plans as an expression of good governance.
Our annual action programmes will explain more clearly what we have done with regard to consultations. The recent annual action programme on Cambodia is a good example. As regards other donor activities, the Commission has provided all available information when presenting its strategy papers, as well as progress towards achieving the millennium development goals. Like you, we have every interest in obtaining an overall picture on the activities of all donors and we are making every effort to provide more information under a new standard mix.
Regarding the mainstreaming of cross-cutting issues such as the promotion of human rights, gender equality, democracy, good governance and environmental sustainability, of course we intend to do this. This has been a core objective for us since the very outset. Rest assured that we will put this into effect in the implementation phase."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples