The Member States and the Commission appear to have reached an impasse on the issue of micromanagement with the Commission keen to change the emphasis from detailed management before project implementation to evaluation during and after completion of the project. Member States are reluctant to relinquish control until there has been some discernable improvement in the Commission's own evaluation of development assistance. Member States and the Commission should seek to agree, at the earliest opportunity, an overall policy framework for EC development assistance and an action plan for its implementation. The financial perspectives for the period 2000-2006 have been agreed, the resignation of the Santer Commission has led to Commission reform. The new Commission is in the process of re-examining its management procedures, and a number of proposals have been made for the reform of external assistance.
Further changes are afoot.
However, if the EC is to realise the its own objectives of improving the management of its external assistance a number of additional reforms will be required both on the part of the Commission and on the part of Member States. The momentum of recent change must be maintained. This will require nothing less than a comprehensive action plan for the reform of EC development assistance, endorsed by the Commission and Member States, with clear commitments and a timetable for their implementation. We are exasperated with the failure of the Commission to reform its development activity effectively. We have no doubt that were the development reforms we outline implemented, the EC could make a real difference to the elimination of poverty.