Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the "Role of civil society in European development policy"
Date: 2003-07-16
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: development policy, public awareness campaign, the EU's international role

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APPENDIX

to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee

The following amendment was rejected but obtained at least a quarter of the votes cast:

Point 2.6.4

Amend as follows:

‘The EESC looks forward to seeing the Commission proposals on corporate governance and urges the Commission
and the Council to check whether the International Accounting Standards and the International Standards on
Auditing are compatible with the European economic model and to make any adjustments as may be necessary,
taking account of the interests of all stakeholders.’

Result of the vote

For: 44, against: 44, abstentions: 12.

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Role of civil society in
European development policy’

(2003/C 234/16)

On 17 January 2002 the European Economic and Social Committee, acting under the second paragraph
of Rule 29 of its Rules of Procedure, decided to draw up an opinion on the ‘Role of civil society in
European development policy’.

The Section for External Relations, which was responsible for preparing the Committee’s work on the
subject, adopted its opinion on 3 June 2003. The rapporteur was Ms Florio.

At its 401nd Plenary Session of 16 and 17 July 2003 (meeting of 16 July), the European Economic and
Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 63 votes in favour and 4 abstentions.

1.

Introduction

matched by a growing recognition on the part of international
organisations that non-state actors (NSAs) are key actors in
framing programmes and development policies.

This opinion is intended as a contribution to the debate
1.1.
on the role of civil society in international relations and, more
particularly,
in the European Union’s development policy,
which has grown in importance over recent years. This has
been brought into particularly sharp focus by recent world
events such as the war in Iraq, and by the fundamental role the
European Union should play in the region in reconstruction
and establishing a genuinely democratic society.

1.2.
Against this backdrop, civil society’s increasing interest
in development policy and the international scene has been

1.3.
An awareness of growing economic interdependence
and the recognition that international balances are constructed
on the glaringly obvious North-South divide have prompted
wide sectors of civil society — the NSAs — to take a closer
interest in all development-related issues, and to seek to take a
more active part in the debate on social, economic and cultural
inequality. This process of engagement, which began back in

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the 1980s, gathered pace in the following decade, when the
changing global political scene and the demise of the bipolar
world order removed a number of obstacles to broader
expression and participation on the part of non-institutional
players.

dialogue between institutions and NSAs is a legally-binding
obligation, with the state and civil society assuming a mutually
supporting role which should help to boost the impact of
development programmes.

2. The European Union’s development policies:
bases and evolution of guiding principles

legal

2.1.
The European Union’s development policy is rooted in
the 1957 Treaty of Rome. The Community Member States
undertook to maintain bonds of solidarity with ‘the colonies
and overseas territories’ and to contribute to their develop-
ment. In the 1960s, when most of these territories won
their independence, their relations with the Community were
governed by the Yaoundé Conventions (1963, 1969). Only in
the 1970s, and in particular after the United Kingdom’s
accession, did development policy begin to grow in com-
plexity: these years were marked by the Lomé Convention and
new links with a number of countries in North Africa, Asia
and Latin America.

The background to the Cotonou Agreement is one of
2.6.
an overall shift in EU development policy. The Joint Declar-
ation on EU development policy adopted back in November
2000 by the Council and the Commission urged the most
wide-ranging participation of all segments of society in order
to create the conditions for greater equity and for the
strengthening of the democratic system in the developing
countries; in 2001, the White Paper on European Govern-
ance (1) underlined the importance of civil society and of the
dialogue with governmental and non-governmental actors of
third countries in defining policies with an international
dimension.

3. The new participatory approach in development

policy

2.2.
In 1993, the Maastricht Treaty on European Union,
and more particularly its Articles 177 to 181, established a
specific legal basis for European development policy. The
Treaty defines its objectives as being: the sustainable economic
and social development of
the developing countries, the
smooth and gradual integration of the developing countries
into the world economy, and the campaign against poverty.
The Treaty also emphasises the principles of freedom, democ-
racy, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Further progress in the affirmation of human rights was
marked by the Treaty of Amsterdam (1999) and the European
Charter of Fundamental Rights agreed in Nice (2000).

EU development policy is thus moving towards a
3.1.
participatory approach which acknowledges civil society as a
new actor in international relations, at least where develop-
ment policies are concerned. It embraces all local social players
and, most importantly, promotes their involvement in the
various stages of drafting and implementing national strategy
documents. As part of this new vision, civil society should not
only benefit from being more actively embedded within the
decision-making processes, but should itself take on a larger
part of the responsibility for the development process as a
whole.

2.3.
The European Union and its Member States currently
provide 55 % of official aid to the developing countries, which
gives some idea of the potential significance of the Union’s
policies and their impact in favour of genuinely fair and
sustainable development. The main objective is to combat
poverty, starting from the principle of human and social
development which is fair, sustainable, and participatory.

The political dimension of development has therefore
3.2.
been recognised, an area in which the equal contribution of
the public and private sectors, economic and social actors and
civil society — who should all be brought into the process —
is essential. Only close cooperation between these social
players can provide any guarantee of coherent development
policies and maximise the impact of development aid.

The European Union is consequently emerging on
2.4.
the international scene as an active player in disseminating
development policies based on an awareness of different
cultures and geared to building up partnerships with third
countries, treating them as full equals in spite of the difference
in levels of development.

3.3.
Participation and dialogue with NSAs also generate
considerable added value. Given that the concept of develop-
ment is no longer seen in purely economic terms, but also
includes a political and social dimension, involving civil society
is an essential contributing factor in setting up or consolidating
democratic systems. It also plays a significant part in conflict

2.5.
The Cotonou Agreement, signed in June 2000, marks
a turning point in the EU’s policies in this area. The agreement
makes clear the link between social dialogue, civil dialogue,
development aid and trade support. For the first time, the

(1) (COM(2001) 428 final).

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prevention and resolution. The Commission’s Communication
on linking relief, rehabilitation and development (1) marked a
step in this direction, arguing that closer coordination between
all the relevant actors, including civil society groups as well as
NGOs and international organisations, is crucial in responding
effectively to crises.

3.4. More recently, the Conclusions of the 5th regional
seminar of ACP economic and social interest groups, held in
Yaoundé from 21 to 23 May 2003, also emphasised the key
role of civil society in preventing conflicts and social tensions,
given the large number of coups d’état and civil wars that
persist in developing countries.

4. Towards
approach

implementation of

the participatory

4.1.
The Commission’s Communication on the partici-
pation of non-state actors in EC development policy (2) illus-
trates how the EU is striving to put the participatory approach
into practice in development policy. Overall, considerable
efforts and energy have been expended to this end, but full
introduction of the approach still seems some way off. This is
in part due to the fact that rules and procedures — where they
exist — are sometimes not clearly formulated, as well as to the
evident difficulties inherent in any thorough-going reform.

4.2.
Formal involvement of civil society at all stages in the
formulation and implementation of development policy exists
only in the Cotonou Agreement. Under the agreement, NSAs
must be informed and consulted about cooperation policies;
have access to resources in order to support local development;
be involved in the implementation of projects and programmes
in areas or sectors that concern them; and be provided with
capacity-building support. In this regard, it would be helpful
for NSAs to be brought into the preparation of national
development strategies. Numerous speakers at the ACP civil
society forum organised by the EESC in December 2002
described a serious lack of information and involvement,
specifically in cooperation programmes.

( 1) COM(2001) 153 final.
( 2) COM(2002) 598 final.

4.3.
The Barcelona Process is of key importance in this
regard. Under the process, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership
(Euro-Med) was launched in November 1995 with the aim of:

— establishing a common area of peace and stability;

— creating an area of shared prosperity;

— developing human resources, and promoting understand-
ing between cultures and exchanges between civil
societies.

The programme has received funding (especially from MEDA
sources) and is operational in many fields.

4.4.
Other agreements, programmes or dedicated funds,
however, make no provision for compulsory consultation or
involvement of third country NSAs, although in practice the
Commission has consulted with various elements of civil
society on a more or less informal basis.

4.5.
There are a number of examples of this: human
rights NGOs from the EU countries were consulted in the
programming phase of the European Initiative for Democracy
and Human Rights, although only after the programming
document had been adopted were field missions undertaken
and contact made with local NGOs; turning to humanitarian
assistance, while ECHO does not directly finance third country
NSAs, it views them as local partners essential to identifying
local needs; similarly, the European Union has established an
institutional dialogue with Latin America through the Rio
Group and, at subregional level, through the San José Group
and Mexico, the Mercosur countries and the Andean Com-
munity; the most recent regulation governing the ALA pro-
grammes has accepted various NSAs into the sphere of
humanitarian cooperation and, most importantly, has rec-
ommended that relations between ALA and EU partners —
NSAs in particular — be stepped up.

4.6.
It thus emerges from the Commission’s communi-
cation that a relatively large amount of attention is paid to civil
society in granting funds to carry out projects, but that it is
not yet involved in policy-formation. Third country NSAs are
basically seen as partners or indirect recipients of funds,
but not as bearing any active responsibility for shaping
development policy.

4.7.
In 2001, the Commission initiated a process of ‘decon-
centration’ of programming to its delegations, transferring
resources and responsibilities to them with a view, precisely,
to introducing a more participatory approach.

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4.8.
The Commission is currently attempting to implement
a range of initiatives to achieve real participation of NSAs, in
part through enhanced capacity-building support for them. As
far back as 1976, the Commission established budget line B7-
6000 to encourage the participation of European civil society
in the dialogue with the Commission on development policy,
and this was augmented in 1992 with budget line B7-6002,
specifically intended to strengthen capacity and mobilise
decentralised actors in the developing countries.

5. Obstacles and problems

As has already been seen, the Commission generally
5.1.
expects NSAs to be brought
the
development process, from the formulation of national devel-
opment policy to the preparation of national response strategi-
es, as well as into the political dialogue, once the areas of
intervention have been determined and, lastly, into implemen-
tation and review processes.

the stages of

into all

Strategy for the effective introduction of a participatory

5.2.
approach, however, runs up against a number of obstacles:

— there is still a noticeably high level of resistance on the
part of most third country governments to dialogue with
NSAs: even where such provision is made, there is
virtually no real possibility for NSAs to take part in
defining development programmes and strategies;

— the highly centralised administration of such countries
constitutes a further obstacle which, because it does not
encourage participation by actors who are not already at
the centre, tends to marginalise local elements, especially
in the least accessible — and often poorest — rural areas;

— there is a clear lack of specific rules and standards

governing real participation by NSAs;

6. Role of the European Economic and Social Com-

mittee

6.1.
Against the backdrop described above, the European
Economic and Social Committee assumes a key role as an
intermediary and supporter of organised civil society, as clearly
established in the Treaty of Rome in 1957 and recently
emphasised by the Treaty of Nice.

6.2.
As a consequence of the relevant provisions of the
Treaty of Nice, in 2001 a protocol was signed between the
Committee and the European Commission. Its purpose is to
strengthen links between the two institutions, recognising the
Committee as an essential forum for dialogue between the
European institutions and civil society. Article 14 of the
protocol promotes this active intermediary role of involving
organised civil society, also in third countries.

6.3.
It should however be pointed out that the Committee
has long been working in this direction. There has been a wide
range of activities geared to launching and sustaining dialogue
with the various components of third country civil society,
some of which have official European Union status, including
regional seminars, summits of economic and social councils,
study groups, follow-up committees, initiatives under the ACP
civil society forum, the meetings and consultation between
European and ACP economic and social operators (explicitly
acknowledged by the Protocol to the Cotonou Agreement),
the Euro-Med dialogue, the EU-India Round Table, and the
framework for relations with the candidate countries and
others on the Union’s eastern borders.

7. Proposals and recommendations

— civil society organisation in third countries is often of
only the most rudimentary kind, and the main problem
is frequently how to boost the capacity of the actors who
are to participate in the process;

7.1.
The Committee welcomes the Commission’s steps to
fully implement a participatory approach, reflecting civil
society’s essential role in development processes, as both target
and, above all, an active agent in such processes.

— a further problem is that of access to funding, closely
tied in with that of dissemination of, and access to,
information. Third country NSAs complain that there is
often a total
lack of any system for disseminating
information;

— the established procedures for granting funding are in
general excessively costly and complex, as the NSAs
themselves frequently point out.

7.2. While welcoming the approach adopted by the Com-
mission, the Committee hopes that a common agreement will
be reached in the short to medium term defining the practical
arrangements and instruments for the participation of NSAs,
culminating in a regulatory system conferring full legitimacy
on dialogue. The starting-point for this dialogue must be the
definition of precise objectives, models and common values to
be promoted.

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7.3.
A ‘roadmap’ must be prepared on the basis of broader
and clearer selection systems in order to facilitate dialogue
with NSAs and their participation, taking account not only of
long-standing structures at local level, but also of more recent
structures provided they appear to offer added value in terms
of greater independence from governments. This need was
highlighted by delegates to the Yaoundé regional seminar, with
a call for clear eligibility criteria to be drawn up at national
and local level in order to bring in all civil society stakeholders
without exception.

7.4.
The process of decentralisation to the delegations,
which the Commission has commenced and which should be
complete in 2003, must
include mechanisms for a real
exchange with third country NSAs. The delegations should
therefore become a key factor in, and themselves a forum for,
dialogue between civil society, national governments and the
EU institutions. By virtue of their greater awareness of local
circumstances, they should help define ways of optimising the
financial resources used, and should assist NSAs in the
transparent application of European funds. The Conclusions
of the Yaoundé regional seminar specifically ask that each
Commission delegation appoint an official
to deal with
relations with NSAs, as is already the case in some delegations.

7.5.
The Committee recognises the particularly important
role of NSAs from the EU countries in capacity-building
for third country NSAs, while trusting that they will not
automatically take the place of local actors. The Committee is
convinced that the role of European NSAs in transferring
know-how and boosting the capacity of their third country
counterparts, so that they can work more effectively in the
field, should be enhanced. European NSAs, however, have the
readiest access to funding, and the risk that they might come
to substitute third country NSAs should be avoided. All
measures which could avert the growth of such an imbalance
should therefore be stepped up.

7.7.
Regarding means of access to funding, third country
NSAs complain that even where well-structured NGOs meeting
all the requirements of representativeness, transparency and
democracy exist, they experience severe difficulty in gaining
access to financing.

7.8.
The EESC therefore considers it important to establish a
constant and comprehensive flow of information at grassroots
level. If development programmes are to achieve practical
results, much broader participation by representative civil
society organisations is essential.

7.9.
For this reason, the Committee hopes that the pro-
cedures for access to European funds will be made easier, while
complying with the rules of democracy and transparency. In
particular, it hopes that the costs of submitting the relevant
applications will be reduced. The language employed in the
official documents is often excessively technical, and the
documentation required very costly.

Concerning the use of funds for development policies,
7.10.
the Committee hopes that anti-corruption measures will also
be strengthened. This should be one of the key criteria for
granting funds.

that

To ensure

It is important,

7.11.
the participatory approach is
implemented in practice, it is also proposed that arrangements
be introduced to monitor the real involvement, in qualitative
and quantitative terms, of NSAs in procedures for defining and
assessing development policies in those countries receiving
European funds.
in this connection, that
the strategies adopted by the Committee regarding impact
assessment be examined and reinforced. The NSAs meeting in
Yaoundé specifically called for such scoreboard monitoring to
be taken into account by the ACP-EU institutions, including
the Council of Ministers, the Joint Parliamentary Assembly and
the European Commision in their own assessments. NSA
involvement in development processes does not, of course,
end with access to finance,
it only begins to be
meaningful where NSAs can secure an active political role.

indeed,

7.6.
The Committee welcomes the Commission’s approach
to boosting the capacity of third country NSAs, as it points to
general information targeting various sectors of civil society,
and the establishment or reinforcement of networks, including
the use of the new technologies, as essential means. The
Committee however urges that the importance of specific
training initiatives also be considered.

For the same reason, the Committee is convinced
7.12.
that initiatives by NSAs, such as the forum of employers’
associations or the trade union committees within the Euro-
med and EU-Mercosur frameworks, must be supported by the
Commission not only in order to strengthen social actors and
increase cooperation between them, but also to ensure they
are effectively involved in the political dialogue and in
negotiations on bilateral regional agreements.

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7.13.
The Committee would also point out that inconsist-
encies and contradictions between EU policies and those of
the Member States often occur. The EU must therefore act to
set equal framework criteria for all the Member States, in order
to make such policies more effective.

7.14.
The Committee is convinced that full implementation
of the participatory approach must necessarily take account of
the objective of equality between the sexes. It therefore stresses
the importance of boosting the role of women in cooperation
policies, affirming their rights within development processes.
It calls for dedicated gender equality initiatives to be launched,
for focused training to be available to women, and for pro-
active measures to be energetically implemented to ensure that

women’s interest groups are fully involved in development
policies.

7.15.
As suggested in earlier opinions, it would also be
helpful for the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund
and the International Labour Organization to join with the
other European institutions in helping to strengthen and
promote the social partners and civil society organisations in
the developing countries.

7.16.
Furthermore, the Committee regrets that only a very
small portion of the funds (some 20 %) are channelled directly
to NSAs in the developing countries, which clearly runs
counter to the recent participation-based approach which has
been chosen as the method for strengthening development
policies.

Brussels, 16 July 2003.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Roger BRIESCH

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘EU-China Relations’

(2003/C 234/17)

On 17 January 2002, the Economic and Social Committee, acting under Rule 29(2) of its Rules of
Procedure, decided to draw up an opinion on ‘EU-China Relations’.

The Section for External Relations, which was responsible for preparing the Committee’s work on the
subject, adopted its opinion on 24 June 2003. The rapporteur was Mr Etty and the co-rapporteur
Mr Dimitriadis.

At its 401st Plenary Session of 16 and 17 July 2003 (meeting of 16 July) the European Economic and
Social Committee adopted the following opinion unanimously.

1.

Introduction

The transition process of the Chinese economy is one
1.1.
of the major events in today’s world. Its political, economic
and social impact will have far-reaching consequences for the
world at large. It is a double transition: from a command
economy into a market economy, and from an agrarian into
It embodies an enormous
an urban/industrialised society.
growth potential, but also frightening risks. The EU is right to
follow this process as closely as possible, not only because of

the impact it has — and will
increasingly have — on EU
interests, but also with a view to the chance it has to influence
it to both its own and China’s benefit. In cooperating with
China, however, it should never lose sight of the limitations of
its role of a partner in change.

1.2.
Placed against this background, the basic principles
underlying the EU strategy vis a vis China are sound and the
objectives of the strategy can be supported. At the same time,
it must be observed that, after almost two decades of EU-China