Debate: Implementation and delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals
Date: WEDNESDAY, 22 JUNE 2022
Speaker: Petros Kokkalis
Country: Hungary
Language: EN

Seventeen goals with 169 measurable targets – indivisible, applicable equally to governments, regions, cities, corporations and SMEs, NGOs, sport clubs and trade unions, schools and hospitals, families and individuals, including refugees, already politically agreed by all nations on Earth – provide us with our best and only tool to effect the monumental transition in an organised, peaceful and democratic manner. This is the first time in human history that we share a global common danger, and we need this universal language that allows all nations to work in the same direction, at the same very little precious time, exchange problems and solutions, and be transparent and accountable to all people in pursuing evidence-based policy and reporting measurable policy outcomes. As hundreds of millions of people are backsliding into extreme poverty and billions are vulnerable to severe climate disruptions, we have the moral obligation to honour the promise that links the Sustainable Development Goals with our own European Green Deal: to leave no one behind. To lead the way forward into a safe world with prosperity for all, within the planetary boundaries and in true respect of fundamental human rights.  With our report today, we aspire to give a new political drive to the delivery of the SDGs in the EU and globally. Ahead of the high-level political forum in July and the summit in 2023, our report hopes to serve as a wake-up call for more and better urgent political action by the EU to restore and accelerate progress in all 17 goals. At the start of her mandate, we welcomed the decision of the President of the Commission to make the delivery of strategies her priority and personally coordinate their efforts to this end. This whole-of-government approach to sustainable development is in the right direction. However, this task has been so far only partly successful, with great steps taken, albeit in disparate places of government. We therefore ask for a new implementation strategy with clear, measurable, time-bound targets, with a clear chain of accountability and a roadmap of concrete actions to be presented before the 2023 SDG Summit, along with a thorough EU voluntary review, which is very welcome, Commissioner. We recognise that the strategy and our efforts to deliver the SDGs will not be successful without the active involvement of citizens and civil society organisations. One cannot ensure that no one is left behind unless everyone has a voice. That is why we call for a mechanism of structured engagement with a balanced, diversified and full democratic participation. There’s a lot we can learn from the Future of Europe Conference here. The report recognises that effectively addressing the multiple crises we’re facing can no longer rely on a system that has failed us and that the radical reorientation of policies is necessary. That is why we are calling for a beyond-GDP approach and a reformed semester process that will be at the heart of a new sustainable development pact that will enshrine the climate law in the European Social Pillar and replace the Stability and Growth Pact. I would like to thank my colleague Barry Andrews and the shadow rapporteurs and the technical teams for the work that they have put into this report. The SDGs are the global green deal, and I am sure that we agree that achieving the Green Deal only in Europe really makes no sense. So we have to get on with the programme.