Commission Staff Working Document

Assessing the 2005 European Consensus on Development and accompanying the Initiative "Proposal for a new European Consensus on Development"

Executive Summary

This Staff Working Document (SWD) accompanies the Communication to the European Parliament and the Council on a "Proposal for a new European Consensus on Development". In line with the Roadmap, the purpose of the SWD is to provide an overview of the outcomes from available evaluation exercises. In so doing, the SWD analyses the extent to which the EU and its Member States have aligned their policies and strategies to the objectives, values and principles of the European Consensus on Development and also reviews the extent to which the Consensus has guided development cooperation activities entrusted to the EU and their implementation.

The findings show that the objectives of the European Consensus, such as poverty reduction, sustainable development and the pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have generally been integrated by the EU and the Member States in their development policies. A broad alignment with the Consensus' common values of respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, peace, democracy, good governance, gender equality, the rule of law, solidarity and justice, has also been observed. A significant degree of alignment is found between the Consensus' principles, such as ownership and partnership, political dialogue, participation of civil society, gender and fragility, and the EU and Member States policies - although some principles were not always followed-up by clearly defined strategies. On working better together, the EU and Member States showed high levels of commitment to enhancing coordination and complementarity and improving aid and development effectiveness. This is illustrated by their leading role in international fora and concrete steps in enhancing transparency, inclusive partnerships and coordination, the latter notably through significant progress in Joint Programming.

The evidence points to the relevance and effectiveness of the Consensus in guiding EU development cooperation and contributing to its objectives, in particular poverty reduction, specifically through support to food security, education and health, and growth, namely through support to macroeconomic stability, trade and infrastructure. Similarly, the Consensus was translated in differentiating resource allocations towards countries most in need, the use of innovative aid modalities and increased commitment in Policy Coherence for Development.

According to Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD/DAC) peer reviews, the Consensus has been a “major strategic success” and a “key milestone”. The evidence indeed shows that the Consensus has had an added-value in fostering a shared and common vision for EU and Member States development cooperation and, in the cases of new Member States, it had a direct influence in the shaping of their development policies. The Consensus also played an important role in guiding EU development cooperation, which has progressively adapted to its priorities and principles. The Consensus has also increased the EU added value by allowing the EU to play leading roles, for example in promoting Joint Programming and articulating the EU and Member States views in international agreements. Overall, the Consensus has played a key role in fostering and driving a new impetus to EU development policy.