Case: Policy coherence in general

24-06-2009 Report puts policy coherence in the spotlight

Since Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) was made a policy making priority by the Council in 2005, the European Commission has put in place an ambitious framework for promoting the better fine-tuning of its policies with respect to their impact on developing countries. A first EU PCD report, assessing progress made since 2005 in both the EU institutions and the Member States, was published in September 2007. Now that the second one is due in 2009, CONCORD is presenting an alternative PCD Report. 

This September, the European Unions second PCD progress report is due. Largely, it will be built on the foundations laid in the 2007 report: it will identify those policy initiatives in which development policy objectives have been taken into account.

But fine-tuning with development policy objectives is not the same thing as taking up and acting on developing countries concerns and interests

This is why CONCORD, the European confederation of relief and development NGOs and long-standing strategic partner of the EU Coherence Programme, has decided to produce an alternative PCD Report. One that puts a different kind of policy coherence in the spotlight, and that features a definition of development that is quite different from the European Commissions a definition based on human rights, equality and ownership in developing countries.

The idea behind the report is to provide an alternative analysis to the one produced by the European Commission and the Member States. CONCORDs analysis is not concerned with progress made on paper, limited to abstract policy objectives in the EU sphere. The Spotlight report will highlight the real impact of European policies on real people in developing countries. Obviously, when one directs the searchlight to these consequences of European actions and policies on developing countries markets and people, the picture might not be quite so rosy