Director’s blog: In the coming months and years, key gender-related milestones will frame our agenda and the EU will have multiple opportunities to reiterate its pledges on gender equality and women’s and girls’ rights. Following the EP elections and the recent designation of the European Commissioners, where do we stand?
How will the EU commit to financing development? 2019 has seen progress towards a sustainable, human rights-based approach to spending our money where it is most needed. Now it’s time to recap.
Brussels, 28 September 2018 – Today, the European Commission officially launched the negotiations with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP) on a new partnership agreement which will succeed the Cotonou Agreement. CONCORD, the European Confederation of Development NGOs, welcomes the renewal of the agreement as it represents a great opportunity to build a people-centered cooperation among equal partners but is concerned about the narrative of Africa being increasingly portrayed only as Europe’s trade and economic partner.
Brussels, 12 September 2018 – Following Juncker’s speech “State of the Union 2018”, CONCORD reacts to the new ‘Africa – Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs’.
No EU trade policy is gender-neutral. Today, European decision-makers widely acknowledge that fact and recognises that this needs to be addressed. Gender receives more and more attention in trade agreements but there is still work to be done. In this publication, CONCORD and WIDE+ call for and explain why a fundamental shift is needed towards a EU trade policy which should give as much importance to human rights and environmental standards as to economic indicators.