Directing EU policy towards poverty eradication: from commitments to targets to results

This paper examines the efforts of European institutions to redirect development policies to assist people living in poverty. These efforts are assessed within the international context of new ideas about how poverty eradication can best be achieved. This paper therefore addresses the following questions:what has changed recently in the policy orientation of the international community towards poverty eradication?what has been the policy of the European Community so far in relation to the eradication of poverty?how has the EC responded to the policies of the international community intended to eradicate poverty?how can the activities of the EC in poverty eradication be enhanced?The formulation of an effective Community strategy for poverty eradication will hinge on whether a number of key issues are successfully resolved. These include:the integration and harmonisation of the Community development programme, and the utilisation of the DAC categories of low- and middle-income countries in the reporting on EU aid activitiesthe removal of existing contradictions between the objectives of poverty eradication, and the conditions related to the macroeconomic policies required by donors, which effectively create povertythe development of an effective Community voice within the international financial institutions and the WTO, and a coordinated Community position on issues of equity as well as on issues related to the liberalisation of trade and servicesthe creation of mechanisms to ensure that ‘ownership’ includes the participation of civil society organisations in developing countriesthe development of instruments to balance sectoral allocations; at present too much is allocated to the transport sector and too little to basic social servicesThe report concludes by highlighting the roles and responsibilities of the various EC institutions in order to implement the recommendations.