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Thursday, September 20, 2007

European Development Cooperation: Does more mean better?

Since 2005, various political agreements have called for more 'Europeanisation' of the Netherlands Development Cooperation. But how ambitious are these agreements? Is The Hague really prepared to work through Brussels? Is the Netherlands willing to delegate some of its sectors to the Commission and other European Member States, including those which are not so like-minded? Will the Netherlands continue its active stance in the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiation process?

In the process towards an increased division of labour and greater policy coherence as regards development, will the Netherlands choose to foster or delay further European integration?

In the context of the activities of the Dutch/Flemmish Development Policy Research Network (DPRN), ECDPM and the Centre for International Development Issues Nijmegen (CIDIN) organise a meeting to take an in-depth and critical look at the present state of affairs of European development cooperation, with a specific focus on the possible role(s) of research in further refining and implementing the commitments that have recently been made. It will be held in Maastricht on September 28th.

The meeting's objective is two folded: sharing information among Dutch academic institutions, development experts, private sector representatives, NGOs and policy makers about the most important progress in vision, implementation and changes of the EU Development Cooperation since 2005; debating some of the current 'hot topics': EPAs, policy coherence for development, the implementation of the Paris Declaration, and the voluntary Code of Conduct on division of labour.

For more information, visit DPRN website.

See also Euforic dossier on Europe's cooperation.