Global Policy Forum

Stefania Bianchi

EU development commissioner designate Louis Michel has promised to make the MDGs "central to all of the European Commission's policies." Answering questions put to him by the members of the European Parliament (MEPs), Michel says the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is essential because they not only "embody the international community's commitment to solidarity" but translate it into "specific, quantifiable objectives to guide us in our action."

The goals agreed by heads of state in September 2000 are to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development. Specific targets have been set for 2015.

Michel, deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Belgium since 1999 was nominated last month to take over as development commissioner from Poul Nielson for the new commission term beginning November. Like the other commissioner designates, Michel has to answer questions from MEPs about his suitability for the job. In the run-up to parliamentary hearings at the end of the month, each commissioner designate has completed a written questionnaire drawn up by the concerned parliamentary committee setting out what they hope to achieve during their five-year term.

Michel says he will seek to improve the "coordination, consistency and complementarity" between objectives set out in the MDGs. "I intend to review the Community development policy, as laid down in November 2000...in order to assess its relevance to the MDGs and, more generally, to enable it to be updated in the light of the far-reaching changes that have occurred at international and EU levels since 2000," he says in a written response to the MEPs.

Michel adds that another way to keep the EU focused on the goals is by "uniting and mobilising" Europe's citizens in support of development. Michel says "shaky coordination continues to impose unmanageable difficulties" on EU partners despite the present Commission's achievements as donor and aid coordinator. "Making aid more efficient is therefore a challenge in itself, and it will feature prominently in my policy," he says. The questionnaire tests Michel's knowledge and intentions on a wide range of issues raised by development groups over the past year.

Responding to concerns over the autonomy of the EU development policy, Michel insists that development cooperation is a "policy area in its own right" with its own specific objectives. "I see this as an inviolable principle, which needs to be reaffirmed at a time when some seem eager to harness cooperation and humanitarian aid to political efficiency," he says. Of particular interest to many development groups is Michel's view of the relationship between EU security policy and development. He says the two "go hand in hand" but should not overlap. "Consistency must not result in confusion between policies but make them mutually reinforcing," he says. "Without development, we will never achieve security."

But the task of tackling chronic insecurity should not be confused with the hijacking of development policy to satisfy short-term security imperatives, he says. "And using the appropriate instruments to achieve foreign policy objectives is not the same as imposing a security-oriented agenda on development aid." Michel insists that development cooperation will not be compromised for other potentially conflicting EU policies. "Each time one set of legitimate interests conflicts with another, there has to be some sort of political bargaining, which will sometimes go one way and sometimes the other," he says. "In my dealings with my Commission colleagues, I will endeavour to ensure that cooperation-development objectives are respected."

Discussing the relationship between EU trade and development policies and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Doha Development Round, Michel says developing countries can benefit from "more open trade" as it makes developing countries make "more effective use of their resources" and become more competitive. He acknowledges, however, that development can only be achieved when the process of opening up is a "gradual one and part of a comprehensive development and poverty-reduction strategy, endorsed, implemented and managed by the developing country itself, with bilateral and multilateral support from its partners." For him, this entails improvements in domestic policies, better access to markets and development cooperation, and trade-related aid.

Speaking more specifically about the controversial Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries, Michel reinforces the need for supporting policies. "Mere liberalisation will certainly not be enough. And in the meantime, we must continue to invest in order to strengthen both the private sector in these countries and the macroeconomic framework and human and institutional capacities needed to meet the challenge of globalisation," he says.

Michel also addresses the issue of untying EU aid. He says that is an "essential factor in building of capacity and real local markets" and that he will promote the untying of bilateral aid by member states "not yet convinced of its positive impact." In talking about his humanitarian role and the Commission's humanitarian office (ECHO), Michel says the role of NGOs in the distribution of aid is extremely important and highlights the need to increase security for aid workers in problematic areas. Michel's hearing before the European Parliament's development committee will take place Oct. 6.