Yesterday marked an important milestone: the European Parliament adopted its Own-Initiative (INI) report on the revamped Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) – the EU’s long-term budget. While non-binding, this report allows the Parliament to present its political vision and influence the direction of future negotiations.
Tanya CoxDirector of CONCORDLooking Back… As we all know, the EU’s aid commitments are not just fragile, they are also conditional and political. For years, most EU Member States...
EP-ELECTION 2024:European development NGOs foresee challenges if the expected shift to the right occurs in the European Parliament elections. Tanya Cox, Director of CONCORD, the umbrella organisation for European development organisations, explains.
The leak of the draft Briefing Book from the Department for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) for the next Commission sparked anger among CONCORD and its members. DG INTPA, entrusted with supporting its partner countries on their path to sustainable development, reducing poverty, and promoting human rights, has taken a shocking turn toward prioritising competition and EU-centric interests, particularly in securing critical raw materials.
CONCORD has endorsed a statement by a group of African and European civil society and youth organisations working as the Africa-Europe Joint Civil Society Engagement Team. The group aims to establish a structured and permanent mechanism for civil society and youth engagement within the AU-EU Partnership, based on principles of transparency, equal participation, accessibility, and inclusion.
CONCORD marked a significant success in our advocacy with the adoption of Council Conclusions on 27th November. The Conclusions represent a win for CONCORD’s work on Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development (PCSD), and a step in the right direction in progressing Agenda 2030.
Press Reaction – The AU EU Summit should have been a great opportunity for young people from Africa and the EU to exchange and listen to each other’s views. Scheduled to speak, and with speeches prepared, as part of the peace, security, and governance section of the Summit today, instead their contribution was ruled out on the grounds of “rules of procedure” after the objections of a number of delegations. Civil Society reacted to the situation.
Ahead of the official EU-CELAC Summit planned for 2017, CONCORD and its partner Mesa de Articulación will organise the 8th edition of EU-CELAC Civil Society Forum on 7-8 of September. For 2 days, civil society from both regions will discuss recommendations to ensure that solidarity, democracy and justice will shape future bi-regional policies. [English – Espanol]
With the revision of the Cotonou Agreement which will start mid-2018 and the soon to be signed new EU Consensus on Development, where do we stand on development cooperation after 60 years of European Union?
On March 25th, the European Union will turn 60, the Treaty of Rome that founded the European Community, has been signed 60 years ago from now. This week, EU leaders, EU citizens and EU civil society will gather next week in Rome to celebrate this milestone and organise several events and demonstrations around it. CONCORD and its allies will be there too. Don’t miss the actions listed in the blogpost below.