The paper sets out the agenda facing Europe under six different headings, and then introduces a scenario planning exercise. The six themes are: (a) the development landscape to 2010; (b) Europe in the world; (c) trade; (d) development and humanitarian aid; (e) politics and partnership; and (f) the architecture of development cooperation.
European development cooperation has undergone significant change since the late 1990s, but a new wave of change is on the horizon. A complex timetable of decisions can be seen stretching through the rest of the decade. The issues range from the relationship between foreign policy and development, through the impact of enlargement and the future of EU-ACP relations, to questions about the role of EU Commissioners and the structure of the Commission. The timetable includes the inter-governmental conference on the Future of Europe, the culmination of the current enlargement process, the European elections in 2004, the appointment of a new Commission, the next Financial Perspectives negotiation, to set the European budget, and a variety of trade- and aid-related processes, globally and with different regional groupings. How can this multiplicity of activities, this pot pourri of issues and complications, be held together? By means, we suggest of a coherent vision of the future.
