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The European Union’s emerging position for FfD4: means (of implementation) to what end?

in: Stephan Klingebiel / Jorge A. Pérez-Pineda / Kathrin Berensmann, Financing for development: From Monterrey to Seville, Bonn: German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), 75-78

As they are collectively the largest providers of official development assistance (ODA) worldwide, the European Union (EU) and its member states have traditionally strongly engaged in the UN Conference on Financing for Development (FfD). Yet, despite their collective ODA footprint, they  do not act as a single and concerted actor on the full range of policy issues covered by the FfD process, for instance in the crucial area of taxation. Moreover, the EU’s 27 member states strongly differ in their own bilateral ODA investments, while the EU is putting increasing emphasis on its  own policy initiatives to the detriment of promoting collective action. This contribution discusses the nature of the EU as an actor in the FfD process and the key policy shifts relevant to this. It subsequently compares its engagement at the 2015 FfD conference in Addis Ababa, followed by an  analysis of the EU’s contribution to the elements paper of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4). Based on this, it concludes that the EU is well-advised to use the coming months to place a stronger focus on ”beyond-ODA issues” during FfD4, as well  as to live up to its own ambition of being open to discussing some of its own recent policy decisions and initiatives, which its partners consider to have a strong emphasis on their national and regional development efforts.

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