Newsletter Fair Politics March 2010

Dear reader,

Fair Politics has had a busy past few months following all of the developments around Policy Coherence for Development (PCD), especially within the European Parliament. Currently an own initiative report on PCD is being written within the Development Committee, which will be accompanied by an opinion from the International Trade Committee. The report will be voted on in the plenary session in May.

Fair Politics continues to monitor and advocate Members of the European Parliament to become Fair Politicians and to strive for more coherent policies for development. Please note that the Fair Politician of the Year will be awarded within the next few months!

Furthermore, the Fisheries Partnership Agreement and Intellectual Property Rights case studies are momentarily being updated and will appear on the website soon. New case study possibilities on Finance and on Migration are being explored.

This newsletter is to inform you of developments and activities of Fair Politics and of European Politics related to development in general.

Enjoy reading!

Who will become the Fair Politician of the Year?

Who will be the Fair Politician of the Year? Since the beginning of the parliamentary year a scoreboard has been kept of the contributions made by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), in relation to one of our cases or PCD in general. Thus far, the competition is incredibly exciting. The Greens/EFA political group has made the most effort up to now, with the S&D group not so far behind them. In June, at the end of the first parliamentary year of this term, the scoreboard will be checked again and the Fair Politician of the Year will be awarded during a ceremony at the European Parliament. Read more here.

New Development Commissioner Piebalgs Strongly Commits Himself to PCD

New Development Commissioner Piebalgs strongly commits himself to PCD. In January, all of the hearings of the Commissioners designate took place. During these hearings the Commissioners were targeted with questions in relation to their field of work by the MEPs from the different committees in the European Parliament. In many hearings of relevance to Development, the issue of PCD or a particular case in relation to PCD was raised. Read more here.

MEP Keller Presents her Own-Initiative Report on PCD

In the meeting of the Committee on Development of the European Parliament on the 22nd of February 2010, Franziska Keller, from the political group of the Greens/EFA, presented her own-initiative report on Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) and the Official Development Assistance plus (ODA+) concept. For her efforts to enhance PCD, as presented in the draft report, Ska Keller is in the race to become the Fair Politician of the parliamentary year! Read more here.

A Good Start to the Year for PCD: INTA Draft Opinion

In the meeting of the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade (INTA) that took place Wednesday the 27th of January 2010, Policy Coherence for Development was on the agenda. This was without a doubt a special occasion for Fair Politics, because the INTA Committee had never discussed the subject this seriously before. Read more here.

The Upcoming Joint Parliamentary Assembly in Spain

From the 27th of March to the 1st of April, 2010, the elected Members of the European Parliament (MEP) and representatives of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states will come together for the 19th Session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) in Tenerife, Spain. Topics like Haiti, southern Sudan, sustainable energy and water, migration, health care (malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis) and the effects of climate change on ACP economies are on the agenda. Fair Politics hopes MEPs will ask relevant questions about incoherence between the EU policies and development objectives and that the JPA will result in progress toward a more Fair Political relationship between the ACP and EU countries. Read more here.
 

Kind regards,

Suzan Cornelissen and Hanneke de Groot

The Fair Politics EU team